


Don’t Touch Me

by Koumagda



Category: Little Witch Academia
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Angst, Drama, F/F, Homophobic Slurs, Romance, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Unrequited Love, little bit of a mystery, potential love triangle, some sexual humor, soul stains, totally snagged this soulmate idea off of pinterest, will potentially add more tags as they come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2020-06-03 19:39:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 37,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19470787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Koumagda/pseuds/Koumagda
Summary: LWA AU: Soulmates - Soul stainsfandangoing’s AU idea:Everyone has a black stain where their soulmate is supposed to touch them for the very first time and it turns colors once they do.“Soulmates are a waste of time!” Atsuko Kagari and Diana Cavendish always told people. There were better things to do than waste your life searching for someone you might never meet... or so they thought.





	1. Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there!  
> I kinda got a little bit side-tracked from writing Blood of a Fighter and wrote this up after scrolling through Pinterest.  
> .  
> It was originally going to be a oneshot but then I remembered reading A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream and thought...  
> HMMM MAGIC?! WITCHES?! ROMANCE?!  
> Fuck yeah let’s gooo
> 
> EDIT: im on my phone and it says that this is chapter 1/1 yeah no I’ll fix that later when I can get on my laptop. It’s 1/? 
> 
> I’m not sure if I want this to be a drama, but I just kinda wanted to have some fun. A breather from the intensity that is BoaF... DEADASS I just realized how that fic would be abbreviated. Boaf Boaf loaf
> 
> Anyways! Here’s just a little fun fic

Black stains, also known as soul stains, have adorned the bodies of human beings since the beginning of time. No one can quite recall what caused them nor does anyone know how to remove them.

They appear where your soulmate, your supposedly perfect match, touches you for the first time. In the event that you actually happen to come across your soulmate and they touch you, it’s said that the black stains are to become colorful.

The most common markings, such as a handshake or tap on the shoulder, are perfectly normal and may bring their possessors anticipation and perhaps anxiety too with every new encounter. However, some stains are rather odd, confusing, or even scary; people are brought together in the strangest of ways.

Atsuko “Akko” Kagari was a healthy girl born in Japan. Her long, straight brown hair complemented her glowing almond skin. Years of running all over the place and jumping off objects to practice flying had made her a well-built athlete. Akko’s parents enrolled her in a variety of different sports clubs in order to try and burn some of her energy, but the girl never stopped moving.

Sports weren’t as fascinating as magic to Akko. She’d spend hours trying to levitate volleyballs above nets and will soccerballs into goals with her mind. She’d run faster than any of the other track club members, but only so that she could skip meets to go practice magic or steal umeboshi, pickled plums, from the kitchen at night.

Yes, Atsuko Kagari was certainly a handful. Bandages almost always coated her arms and legs for being athletic didn’t require a lack of clumsiness. Her mother worried herself sick whenever Akko would come home all bruised and bloody. This girl just wouldn’t give up on her dreams of being a witch.

For this reason, the parents of the Kagari household decided to let their daughter apply for Luna Nova Magic Academy. In support of their daughter’s dream—and hoping that she’ll come back a little less reckless—they reluctantly let their little bird go, hoping that maybe, just maybe she’d find her soulmate overseas. After all, someone had to take care of their daughter when they no longer could.

Akko had potential and was going to fly like a real witch.

…

Well, not before realizing that there was no bus to Luna Nova Magic Academy and that she had absolutely no idea how to fly, much less levitate herself.

* * *

“I’m sorry… I don’t really do relationships.”

_slap!_

  


“That’s the third time she’s gotten slapped,” Sucy Manbavaran mused. “And we’re less than a month into the year.”

“Again? I didn’t realize Amanda was so popular,” Lotte Jansson gaped at the scene.

They watched a pretty girl with long, curly locks storm off. Her face was redder than her hair. The girl furiously wiped her eyes and flew through the entrance doors to Luna Nova.

“Yeesh…” Sucy grimaced. “She did _not_ take that well.”

Amanda O’Neill rubbed her cheek as she made her way over to the bushes, where her friends were so obviously hiding. She looked like a weird mixture between upset and somewhat proud to have received yet another confession. “I know you guys are there,” she laughed.

“We’re so sorry…” Lotte quickly apologized.

“Nah, it’s fine… did it happen though?” Amanda moved her hand away so that the girls crouched in the plants could see.

“Nope, sorry Amanda,” Akko stood up and brushed her skirt off, “Nothing.”

On the first day of school, everyone thought that Amanda had been messing around in the art room. Why? Because she had a big whopping black handprint stained into the skin of her left cheek. Clearly, whoever was her soulmate was meant to slap her at some point.

It wasn’t unseen before, but it certainly wasn’t a common soul stain. Usually, it would raise questions as to what the owner might do to deserve it. However, Amanda O’Neill really wasn’t too ashamed or bothered by the marking. She’d done a lot of things that probably would’ve warranted more than a slap. Plus, she was confident, boasting that she could win back whoever she offended.

“I still don’t think it’s morally acceptable for you to be looking for your soulmate this way.” Lotte shook her head in disapproval. She also rose and plucked a few crinkled brown leaves from her clothes. Next to her, Sucy pulled herself to her feet.

“Hey, they’re the ones who come after me. I just turn em’ down and see what happens.” Amanda shrugged.

“But you’re hurting people… and perhaps even leading them on?” Lotte frowned. She thought for a moment before adding, “You shouldn’t get close to people and then pull away when they end up not being your soulmate.”

“Let her do what she wants,” Sucy interjected, “it’s fun to watch.”

“Hmm… Lotte’s right. I don’t think you should be searching for your soulmate,” said Akko. She folded her arms and nodded like she was agreeing with herself.

“That’s not what I said.” The Finnish girl glanced at her.

“What do you mean?” Amanda questioned, her pale mint-green eyes locking with Akko’s fiery-red eyes.

“I just mean that soulmates are kinda cliche. I can fall in love with anyone I want, I don’t need some stupid mark telling me whose right or wrong for me,” Akko clarified. “But really, why obsess over a person you might never meet when you can obsess over Shiny Chariot’s trading card game!? Speaking of which, who wants to play a round? Lunch isn’t over yet!”

“Nobody,” Sucy scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Shiny Chariot's magic is frowned upon at Luna Nova. She's disappointing.”

“Wh— no she’s not! Chariot is amazing!” Akko whirled on her heels around to see a blonde with long wavy hair, which reached her lower back. The girl glared with sharp, icy blue eyes.

“Miss Kagari, isn't that right? You're new here, aren't you? My name is Diana Cavendish,” the blonde girl greeted. Akko observed the two other girls beside her, stifling laughter. They appeared to have just packed up their lunches, heading back inside when they heard the conversation. Akko also noticed that all three of them were staring at her soul stain. Which… made her sort of uncomfortable. Screw that. It made her incredibly uncomfortable.

“Yeah… I’m Atsuko Kagari, but just Akko is fine,” she slowly said.

“In any case, I'll call you Akko and impart some friendly advice to you. No one here respects Chariot, so stop thinking her as a role-model,” Diana stated bitterly.

“Chariot is the best! You take that back!” Akko spat, filled to the brim with rage.

“I’ll be on my w—“ Diana turned to leave but Amanda took the chance and lunged at her.

**_smack!_**

She had snatched Diana’s wrist, using it to slap her hand across Amanda’s own face. Diana’s dainty hand turned a bright red and Amanda’s face would’ve done the same if not for the color that already painted it.

“Did it work?!” Amanda shouted. When Diana had yanked her hand free from the American’s grip, the soul stain was revealed. It was pitch-black—like it always was.

“No…” Akko said, her anger dissipating due to shock. Diana stared blankly at Amanda, about as startled as Akko was. 

“What was that?!” One of Diana’s friends, Barbara, yelled. Her arms tightened around her bag to the point where Akko wondered where the strength was even coming from; she was a rather slim girl.

“How dare you manhandle Diana, you brute!” The other girl, Hannah, snarled. She looked about ready to throttle Amanda.

”Why did you do that?” Akko turned to Amanda, genuinely curious. But her question was answered when a surprisingly loud laugh erupted from next to her.

“Were you seriously testing to see if Diana Cavendish was your soulmate?!” Sucy cackled loudly. She laughed so hard, tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

“I was just making sure!” Amanda scowled and playfully punched the mauve-haired girl in the shoulder. “Why do I feel like you’re making fun of me?!”

“Miss O’Neill, you should know that soul stains only react when the opposite party willingly touches you. Their consent must be present,” Diana spoke in an unfriendly tone. She wasn’t furious or anything, rather she looked disgusted with Amanda. Diana rubbed her hand in an attempt to alleviate some of the stinging sensation.

“Shit. I forgot.” Amanda sheepishly scratched the back of her head.

“The concept of you being my soulmate is unfathomable,” Diana declared. She took a step forward and gently placed her right hand on Amanda’s left cheek. After a split second, she removed it and backed away.

Everyone watched intently, waiting to see if there would be a reaction. Part of Akko was kinda repulsed by the idea of the them being soulmates. Diana was a mean, stuck-up, Chariot-hating girl while Amanda was friendly and pretty cool. There was no way those two could match. But then again, the course of true love never did run smooth*. Where had she heard that? Well, it probably wasn’t important.

“Well…? Anything?” Amanda quirked an eyebrow.

“No,” Diana replied firmly.

“Damn it. I wanted a British bombshell for a wife.” Amanda smirked and high-fived Akko. Their suppressed giggles immediately became fully fledged laughter.

“You’re disgraceful. You should all be getting to class now. Let’s go, girls.” With that, Diana disappeared back into the school.

“I feel pity for whatever poor soul gets stuck with you as a sorry excuse for a soulmate,” Hannah hissed. She and Barbara then proceeded to rush after Diana.

“Bitches,” Sucy snorted, staring after the two.

“That was…” Lotte took off her glasses and began cleaning them.

“Don’t listen to her, Amanda. I’m sure your soulmate will love you,” Akko reassured after a moment of silence.

“Eh, it’s fine.” Amanda shrugged her shoulders. “I guess I can cross Cavendish off the list.”

“You have a _list_?” Lotte gawked at her.

“Yeah,” she responded casually, “so far, I know it’s not you, Sucy, Constanze, Jasminka, Blair, Sarah B., or Diana.”

“You haven’t checked Akko,” said Sucy. Her half-lidded eyes flickered to the Japanese girl. “Go ahead, whack her hard!”

“What?! No!” Amanda gasped.

“I’m not going to hit her,” Akko laughed heartily. “Here.”

She reached up and pressed the palm of her hand into the side of Amanda’s face. While she was at it, she tried lining her hand up exactly with the marking. That’s when she noticed something. “Hey, wait!”

“What? Whoa, wait—- is it reacting?!” Amanda’s eyes lit up in surprise.

“Yeah, sweets, come gimme some sugar~” Akko grinned and leaned towards her with puckered lips.

“Holy shit are you serious?” Amanda grabbed her by the shoulders and shoved her away.

“No, she’s just kidding,” Lotte quickly answered before things could get too out of hand. Amanda seemed to realize that a little bit late. She was mentally smacking herself for being such an idiot.

Akko’s soul stain was located on the upper right side of her face. The black marking was a thick smudge that extended from the side of her nose to her temple and cheekbone. It got somewhat slimmer as it curved upwards across her cheek and ended at the bone. It covered her eyelid and went just above her right eyebrow. Essentially, it was close to a big blotch.

Plenty of doctors and “touch-prediction” professionals had taken a look at it. Given the shape, there was no way that it could be a black eye. Akko was glad that she didn’t have to worry about that.

The marking did, however, spark wonder. One analyst had seen it and told her that whoever her soulmate is might wipe something on or off her face. That seemed to be the best, most logical guess.

Facial soul stains were considered rare since the face is an intimate place to be touched, especially if it’s someone’s first time making physical contact with you. No stranger just walks up to you and starts grabbing your face.

Amanda realized that Akko was kidding when she remembered that her mark was on her face. If Amanda was her soulmate, it would’ve been on her shoulder(s), back, or around her neck. The American had a habit of wrapping her arm around people and giving friendly—and usually unwelcome—pats on the back or shoulder. Now that she thought about it, she’d never touched Akko’s face before.

“You little—“ Amanda slapped her shoulder.

“Ow!!! Sorry, I couldn’t help it!” Akko laughed.

“You’re insane.” She shook her head in disbelief, but a wide smile was still on her face. “But wait, what were you going to say?”

“Oh, I was just going to tell you that my hand is smaller than the one on your face.” Akko pulled her hand back.

“I hadn’t even thought of that.” Amanda’s eyes widened as if she just realized that she didn’t have to have girls slap her to figure things out. “I could totally just have people compare the sizes!”

“Dumbass,” Sucy shook her head, “they still have to touch you. If you were smart, you’d have everyone do what Diana just did.”

“So Akko’s not the one,” Lotte commented.

“Nah. I guess I’m gonna have to find someone else to check. Awe crap, it’s time to go.” Amanda watched as other people who were eating outside began walking to class. “I’m gonna look for Chloe later… Ooh, or Mary, she’s kinda cute!”

Akko, Lotte, And Sucy walked together. Amanda had bolted after a girl with long navy-blue hair. Halfway to class, Akko asked, “By the way, I don’t think I’ve ever seen your soul stains. Where are they?”

“Akko, you know that can be a pretty personal question, right?” Lotte sighed.

“What— why?” she asked, confused as to why that was so wrong.

“Well, if you tell someone where your soul stain is or if you leave it exposed, then some people will try and touch it. They’ll do it even if you don’t want them to,” Lotte explained patiently. “It causes a lot of problems.”

“Oh…” Akko scrunched her mouth to the side. She was fine touching other people, having assumed that everyone had the decency to avoid soul stains. It totally slipped Akko’s mind that some had no respect. There weren’t many people who touched her face for her to be wary. She made a mental note of that for the future. “Sorry…”

Lotte furrowed her eyebrows and side-glanced at her friend as they walked. Akko had a completely guilty and sad expression. Lotte closed her eyes and heaved a small sigh. She relented, “Since you’re my roommate, you’re bound to see it at some point. I wouldn’t mind telling you.”

“Really?!” Akko perked up instantly, her curiosity getting the better of her. “I mean, if it’s alright with you?”

“Mhm. It’s on my right shoulder,” Lotte said, lowering her voice. “It’s not special, a handprint as if someone’s trying to get my attention. I haven’t found who it is yet.”

“Before you ask, mine’s on my chest. Two handprints,” Sucy confessed blankly.

“Your chest…?” Akko peered at her in concern.

“It’s not what you’re thinking. Someone is obviously going to push me away. No big deal.” Sucy brushed it off in her usual monotone voice.

“That’s… sad. I’m sorry.” Lotte placed a hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t care. I know I creep people out…” A maniacal laugh escaped her throat. “Just wait until I brew the right potion…”

“Eh…?” Akko stared at her as they entered the classroom and took their seats.

“I don’t even want to know what that means,” Lotte sighed.

“Hmm…” Akko thought, but not about what Sucy said. Now that she knew about Amanda, Lotte, and Sucy’s soul stains, she was curious. There were so many different stains, so many different stories out there.

When professor Callistis walked in and started class, Akko barely noticed. Instead of paying attention to the lesson, she found herself looking at the Chariot-hater, Diana Cavendish. Akko found herself wondering who Shiny Chariot’s soulmate was. Certainly not Diana…

Akko caught glimpses of Diana while pretending to jot down notes. Now that she really looked at her, she was drop-dead gorgeous… too bad she was so mean. The blonde sat between the two other girls from earlier, looking prim and proper. There was no black on her face, neck, or hands.

Where was her soul stain?


	2. O’Neill’s Plight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several days after meeting Cavendish and Co. for the first time, Akko overhears a conversation between Diana and Amanda.  
> Amanda and Akko hang in the green team’s room and Amanda’s having a hard time talking to Hannah.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is NOT a filler chapter.  
> In fact, it’s rather important so pay VERY close attention hmm
> 
> ...
> 
> What could be happening?
> 
> oh and don’t forget to enjoy!

Akko was heading back to the dorm room after classes when it happened. She’d been quietly observing her fellow student body members for any visible soul stains.

First, she caught sight of someone with a black blotch on the back of their left hand. Whilst slowing down in the middle of the hallways to check it out, she ran right into a girl. Akko noticed makeup on her cheek as she angrily shouted, ‘Watch where you’re going!’

Concealer hid the marking pretty well, but some of it had been rubbed off. Upon closer inspection, she could just barely make out the shape. Was that a lip print? It was only when the girl’s hands roughly shoved her away that Akko realized she had grabbed hold of the front of her vest.

“Get off of me! What’s the matter with you?!” she exclaimed furiously.

“Uhm… uh…!” Akko panicked and heads were beginning to turn in their direction. She quickly leaned in close to her ear. “Your soul stain is showing.”

The girl did not respond verbally, but she did look completely mortified. She dug her hand into the pocket of her skirt and whipped out a mirror. Akko watched as she brought her slightly trembling fingers up to graze the chalky makeup.

Then, she snapped the mirror shut. Her eyes glanced around at the other students passing by. The girl murmured a quick “thank you” and rushed off in the direction of the bathrooms.

But that wasn’t the event she was currently thinking about. Akko was on her way to enter the narrow hall leading to the red team’s dorm when she came across Diana Cavendish. She was in a hall that Akko was passing by. Akko swiftly backed up and pressed herself against the wall.

She was standing outside the blue team’s room with… Amanda? Akko had seen Diana constantly with two other girls before but it wasn’t until a few days ago when she had sort of formally met her (she still wasn’t clear on why Diana hated Chariot so much) that she began to notice more about her.

Diana, according to Lotte and Sucy as well as plenty of other peers, was the sole heir of the Cavendish estate. She apparently came from a famous family of witches dating back fifteen-hundred years ago. Additionally, she had a brilliant mind and magical talent that nobody at Luna Nova could top.

Thus, seeing her alone with Amanda was something totally out of the ordinary.

Akko couldn’t help but hide behind the corner. Slowly, she crept forward until the two were just barely within her field of vision. Their voices were hushed, but she could still make out what they were saying.

“Miss O’Neill, I would never, under any circumstance, disclose the soul stains of my team members or myself.” Diana glared at the American.

“Whoa, Cavendish, chill,” Amanda frowned, “you don’t have to. It was just a suggestion; I thought it would be a little fun and light-hearted. I wasn’t gonna force you to.”

“It’s a rather poorly thought-out idea. We will _not_ be engaging in what would be practically a… grope-fest,” Diana said.

“Oh my— okay, you’re totally overthinking it.” Amanda ran her hands through her hair. “It was **just** an idea, Diana. It wasn’t a freakin’ plan or anything,” she groaned. “Just forget about that.”

“As you wish. Now I’d certainly like to know, why you’ve decided to come to us?” Diana inquired, eyes scanning Amanda’s face for any ulterior motives.

“Look, a lot of us have classes together, some of us actually work together in class, and some of us are friends. I thought it would be cool if the red, blue, and green teams could hang out together on Friday night,” Amanda explained. She looked almost embarrassed to be pitching the idea. “I’m going to ask Akko if the red team wants to join us soon.”

“I am shocked you’d want to invite a ‘callous bitch’, ‘closet-nerd’, and an ‘ugly prude’,” Diana hissed through her teeth, referring to herself, Barbara Parker, and Hannah England. Though Akko wasn’t exactly sure what she meant.

“You heard that?!” Amanda visibly paled.

“Yes and frankly, I don’t care what you must think of me, but please kindly refrain from insulting my team,” she said, her voice cold as stone.

“Alright, okay. Hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean those things… well, I did… but that was before,” the American nervously laughed.

“Before _what_?” Diana squinted at her with piercing ocean-blue orbs.

“Before England and I got paired up for an English assignment and started texting every here and there…” Amanda shrugged and averted her eyes. “She just… made you guys seem not so bad and so I thought, ‘hey why don’t we all hang out?’”

A few seconds of silence slipped by before Diana let out a small sigh. She pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Then, she spoke, “Very well. We’ll be at your room on Friday night. However, you have to promise me that nobody’s going to mess with my team’s soul stains.”

“Of course, of course!” Amanda’s face lit up and she nodded frantically. “Alright, I’m gonna go check in with the red team! Tell Hannah to text me?”

“Okay.” Diana was tempted to ask Amanda what she wanted her room mate for but figured that it wasn’t her place to pry; it wasn’t her business. Even though Amanda was among the most infuriating people she knew, it was Hannah’s choice who she wanted to befriend.

“Great! See ya!”

Akko’s ears twitched and she made a dash for her room. Years of sneaking around and running made her steps quick and quiet. She successfully zipped down the hall and into her room just as Amanda bid farewell to Diana and began walking towards the red team’s dorm room.

* * *

September 16, 2019

_Hannah England: Did you need me for something?_

_Amanda O’Neill: yeah I’m hungry_

_Hannah England: Are you serious? I thought this was about our presentation_

_Amanda O’Neill: no I’m just hungry_

_Hannah England: Then go eat something_

_Amanda O’Neill: are u on the menu?¿_

_Hannah England: Shut up, Amanda. I’m this close to blocking your number_

_Amanda O’Neill: WHOA_

_Amanda O’Neill: WAIT!!!!_

_Amanda O’Neill: i was just messin with you! i just needed some advice_

_Hannah England is typing..._

“Who’s Hannah England?” Akko asked.

“Whoa!” Amanda nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard Akko’s voice. “Akko, don’t look over my shoulder!”

“Sorry, Amanda… What advice do you need? Can I help?” The brunette was sitting on the floor of the green team’s room next to Amanda. Their backs were pressed up against the side of Amanda and Jasminka’s bunk bed.

After Amanda had proposed the Friday night party with the three teams, she had invited Akko to hang out until curfew. Originally, the two of them were going to do homework but then they got distracted by their phones.

Phones had been banned from Luna Nova, only returning recently. Most students had been using crystal balls as a means of communication up. Up until now, Akko had been playing some sort of game related to Shiny Chariot while Amanda was texting.

“Nah…” Amanda’s eyes shifted to the side, away from Akko’s eager ruby-red gaze. Her face looked a little pink so Akko pressed a hand to her forehead.

“Are you okay? You look a little flushed,” she said, concern in her voice.

“Y-yeah! I’m totally fine, it’s just hot in here,” Amanda sputtered. Lightly, she slapped Akko’s hand away.

“It’s kinda cold though?” Akko’s eyebrows furrowed together.

“That’s ‘cause your skirt is so damn short!” Amanda snapped. Her eyes fell to her phone when it vibrated. Leaning as far away from Akko as possible, she swiftly scanned her glowing screen.

_Hannah England: Okay. About what?_

“My skirt is fine!” Akko huffed. “And was that Hannah England? Who is she?”

“Dude, Akko. She’s just… a friend!” Amanda practically shouted. “Part of Cavendish’s team, y’know?”

“Oh! Which one is she?” The Japanese girl smiled at her. Amanda felt unbelievably more embarrassed about this than she thought she should be.

“The one with brown… no, auburn—sorta reddish-brown hair. She’s gotta ponytail? Always glaring at me?” Amanda replied, trying to think about Hannah’s distinguishing features.

“Yeah! Okay, I definitely remember her. I just didn’t know her name!” Akko nodded. She glanced up at her friend, giving up on trying to see whatever message had popped up on the phone. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Amanda swallowed as quietly as possible and smiled at her. Her eyes kept flickering down to her phone as she tried to act normal and meet Akko’s eyes. “Totally, totally. Just a little tired.”

“I get that.” Akko shrugged her shoulders and checked the time on her own cellular device. There was still just a little bit of time left until she would have to leave. “But really, Amanda. If there’s anything that’s bothering you… talk to me, okay?”

“Yeah… okay,” Amanda mumbled. Her face was burning and her stomach felt… exactly as if there were butterflies in it. She wanted to throw up but at the same time, she felt super content. It was a really weird feeling.

“I’m serious!” Akko pouted, causing Amanda to laugh a little.

“Yeah, yeah, I got it!” Amanda looked at her phone once more. Temptation ate away at her soul; she wanted so badly to respond to Hannah.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t. Now that she knew that Akko was the type of person to hover, there was no way she could do it. That’s when she lucked out.

“We’re back!” Jasminka called out. The door of the room broke open to reveal Constanze and Jasminka. They were carrying armfuls of snacks. “And we got the stuff for Friday!”

“Awesome!” Akko grinned from ear to ear.

“Did ya get it?” Amanda looked at her roommates expectantly.

“Pickled plums and magic brownie bites?” Jasminka fumbled through one of the many bags she was holding.

“Pickled plums?!” Akko nearly screamed. “No way, I love pickled plums!”

Amanda, Jasminka, and Constanze smiled at her. Akko was practically shaking in her spot with excitement. A fairly big jar of vibrant pink plums suspended in a bright red fluid. It didn’t really look appetizing to Amanda but Akko seemed to love it.

“Did you get that just for me?” She stared at it with sparkling eyes and a watering mouth. The Japanese girl jumped up and rushed over to get a closer look.

“Amanda told me you liked them,” Jasminka responded, smiling gently.

“Thank you, Amanda!” Akko hollered and Amanda just smiled and shook her head. “Can I have some right now??”

“It’s close to curfew. I think you should start heading back. Sorry, Akko.” Jasminka looked at the alarm clock on a nearby nightstand.

“Oh…” Akko deflated, looking like a puppy who’d just gotten kicked in the face.

“Wait til’ Friday night! Then, they’re all yours!” Amanda tried to cheer her up. Surprisingly, it was rather easy.

“Cool! Good night!” Akko waved at the three other girls before skipping out of the room.

As soon as the door closed behind the peppy brunette, Amanda whipped out her phone. She focused her mind on Hannah and only Hannah. After all, someone like Hannah England deserved her full attention... especially if Amanda ever wanted it again. Taking a deep breath, she typed out her message and hit send.

Jasminka and Constanze were unloading the food and settling in for the night. Meanwhile, Amanda anxiously waited for a response from Hannah, hoping that she wouldn’t be mad for the super late response. She found herself staring at the text she had sent.

_Amanda O’Neill: so I might have a crush and I’ve never felt this way before..._

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks me what the chapter means...
> 
> Remember that this takes place 3 days after chapter 1.  
> Chapter 1 was on a Monday, this chapter is on a Thursday.. meaning there’s a bit of a time gap... wonder what could’ve happened in the meantime.
> 
> I also dropped a hint in chapter 1.
> 
> Now let’s see who can figure it out..!!
> 
> Anyways, thanks for reading!!! I absolutely ADORED seeing all your comments and I hope I was able to clear up any confusions. If not, please don’t be afraid to ask... or it might just be that my writing has a mistake. Either way, loved the responses!  
> So glad you guys are excited for this AU because I am too!


	3. Control

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko incurs the wrath of the blue team girls. In their own room, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara prepare themselves for the small party later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I totally didn’t expect to have this much free time and Blood of a Fighter is still being edited... so while we wait, here’s the next chapter which I actually wrote yesterday. I got so excited by the depth of some of the responses that I wanted to continue ASAP!
> 
> Once again, I’ve littered hints throughout the chapter! Hints to what? Who knows~  
> Maybe someone will figure it out before we even get to the climax!
> 
> Thanks for reading now enjoy chapter 3!

Normally, you’d think that Mondays or Wednesdays would be the longest days of the week. Professors collect old homework and assign new material at the very beginning of each week, so that sucked big time. Then there was the middle of the week. It’s totally uneventful, being nothing but a reminder that, hey, you’re almost there… but not quite.

However, Atsuko Kagari absolutely loathed Fridays. Well… Friday afternoons, to be specific. She looked at a clock which hung on the wall at the front of the room.

1:30 pm. Almost there. So close. Akko grunted and clicked her pen in annoyance, causing Sucy to elbow her in the side.

“GAH—“ she choked. She swore that the girl had popped a rib out of place.

“Miss Kagari? Is there a problem?” Professor Callistis questioned. Though unlike the other faculty members, her tone was more concerned than it was angry.

“Ah, no… Sorry, I just had to... sneeze.” Akko laughed sheepishly, fiddling with a button on her vest.

“I see. Well, then could you answer why the constellation Virgo is so significant?” The blue-haired teacher smiled gently.

“Okay…” Akko mentally fumbled around her brain, scraping the corners for any information that she’d retained in the past week. Luckily, she was pretty confident in her memory. It was the pronunciation of words that always got her.

“It harbors Spica, the 16th brightest star in the sky located by following the arc of the Big Dipper’s handle,” she recited what she had read in her text back a couple days go. Hopefully it was—

“Correct,” Professor Callistis nodded with pride in her eyes, “Now, Spica is a binary star. This means that it is a star system that has two stars orbiting…”

When the lecture continued, Akko felt a wave of relief sweep over her. She turned and shot Sucy a glare, which only proceeded to earn a sly smirk.

Finally hearing the last bell of the day was almost better than listening to Shiny Chariot’s old interviews over and over again while trying to practice transformation magic. Akko shot to her feet, gathered her books, and sprinted towards the door.

“Ow!”

Akko slammed into the person in front of her. When she looked up, it was none other than Hannah England. All the teasing and snide remarks about her ‘lack of magic and potential’ came back to Akko in that moment. The color had already left her face when the voice cried out; it paled even more so when Hannah turned around and glared at her.

“Watch where you’re going!” she snarled, bending over to pick up the books that had flown out of her arms.

“I— uhm…” Akko felt Diana Cavendish’s cold blue eyes on her as well as Barbara Parker’s revolted stare. “Sorry!” She decided to apologize and get a move on as quickly as possible.

“Not so fast!” Barbara grabbed her arm roughly. Good to know that _she_ wasn’t her soulmate. Akko almost laughed at the thought. She totally would have… if she wasn’t totally terrified.

“What?!” Akko shouted in a panic. By now, Lotte and Sucy had picked up on the situation and were making their way over to provide support.

“I want a better apology. You—“

“Whoa, whoa!” Amanda interrupted the beginning of Hannah’s tirade. She quickly stepped into the hall outside the classroom, where everyone stood. “It was just an accident. You know Akko by now, she just gets a little too excited.”

“Well maybe Akko should _just_ control herself a little,” Hannah spat venomously. Her eyes bore right into Akko. “You’re worse than a chihuahua on cocaine.”

“Pay more attention to your surroundings, you pitiful, magicless moron,” Barbara chimed in.

“Girls.” Diana’s eyes narrowed.

“Well, if it isn’t Heather, Heather, and…” Amanda glanced at Diana, “Heather.” *

“What?” Hannah growled. “The hell does that mean?”

“It’s just a joke, I dunno,” Amanda shoved a rising laugh back down her throat, “But seriously, guys, can we just cool it? We’re all hangin’ out tonight. Don’t ruin it with your bad blood.”

“Ugh, whatever,” Hannah scoffed. “This isn’t worth my time anyways.

“Look, she said she was sorry.” Amanda frowned.

“Hey, if it makes you feel better,” Akko took a deep breath, “I’m sorry, Hannah.”

Hannah scanned her up and down. Akko was currently hiding behind Amanda, who had defensively put her arm out in front of her. Deciding that it would be even more awkward to show up at the green team’s room if she didn’t forgive and forget, Hannah sighed, “It’s fine.”

“Thank goodness…” Akko said. She, Amanda, and Lotte let out sighs of relief. Sucy, on the other hand, simply observed the group with a blank expression on her face.

Hannah felt a little uneasy. Diana was looking at her with a little bit more intensity than usual. When Hannah caught a glimpse of her from the corner of her eye, she saw the emotionless I-could-be-studying face. Thus, she nervously turned to Akko and said, “I’d like to… apologize too. For getting so… mad over nothing…”

Akko’s eyebrows snapped upwards and she gaped at Hannah for a few seconds. Hannah swore she’d seen Amanda’s face soften for a split second. Akko anxiously gave a big smile and made a waving gesture with her hand. “It’s okay! I guess I should’ve been looking where I was going!”

Hannah’s hazel orbs flickered to Diana; her expression relaxed slightly. She must’ve been satisfied with that. Now, it was Hannah and Barbara’s turn to feel relief… and the awkward tension in the air.

“Well, now that everything’s all good, I’ll see you guys around! Remember to come at 8:00 pm. Plan on stayin’ over ‘cause Friday nights are for fun!” Amanda smiled and moved to join Constanze and Jasminka. The two had been standing there, waiting patiently for their friend. Together, the three of them headed to their room, probably to get ready for the evening.

Diana flipped her hair and began walking away, cuing her and Barbara to follow. Hannah reached into the pocket of her skirt for her phone. After making sure that Diana was still looking forward, attention on only the path in front of her, she began to pound her thumbs on the screen.

* * *

September 17, 2019

_Hannah England: So. You took Akko’s side and made me look like some sort of evil villain._

_Hannah England: Now, you have to tell me who your crush is._

She stared at the screen before receiving a surprisingly quick response.

_Amanda O’Neill: ok 1: you were like going psycho on her for bumping into you. I didn't mean to make you feel bad and 2: no way I already told you. Rn, I don’t think I can say it_

Hannah frowned at this.

_Hannah England: Why not?_

_Amanda O’Neill: it’s for her own good tbh_

_Hannah England: It’s a girl???_

_Amanda O’Neill: fuck_

_Amanda O’Neill: yea_

_Amanda O’Neill: is that a problem?_

_Hannah England: No!_

_Amanda O’Neill: good ;)_

_Hannah England: Is it someone I know?_

_Amanda O’Neill: i told you, I’m not telling you anything_

_Hannah England: Come on, aren’t we friends?_

_Amanda O’Neill: WhOa Hannah England called me her friend?????_

_Hannah England: Shut up._

_Amanda O’Neill: gladly, cutie bear. I ain't gonna spill_

_Hannah England: I’ll find out eventually, O’Neill. Watch your back._

_Amanda O’Neill: see, you always sound sooo aggressive but you're gonna needa bite to go with all that bark_

_Hannah England: Wow._

_Amanda O’Neill: you're kinda like Akko_

_Amanda O’Neill: you say stuff you don’t mean_

_Amanda O’Neill: its cute but you might get hurt one day_

Hannah stared at the last message sent. What did that mean…? Obviously, it meant what it meant. Yet despite maintaining fairly good grades in all her classes, Hannah wanted to know what it meant. It’s _cute_?

“Hannah, are we doing matching sleepwear tonight?” Barbara asked, snapping her out of her thoughts.

“Which ones?” Hannah shut her phone off and tossed it off to the side.

“Gray sweatpants and black tank tops or black shorts and oversized sweaters?” The black-haired girl pulled the clothes out of one of their dresser drawers. “Diana, do you want to match with us?”

“No, I’m alright.” Diana shook her head before continuing to read whatever chapter of the textbook she was on. Chances are, she was probably rereading it for the third time.

“Go with the shorts and sweaters,” Hannah said.

“What colors?”

“Whatever you want, Barb.” Hannah shrugged.

“Let’s go with cream. Can’t go wrong with cream, right?” Barbara smiled a little and tossed a sweater at Hannah.

She caught it in the air. “Looks good to me… hey.”

“What is it?” Diana closed her book and stretched in her seat.

“Why are we going to this thing tonight?” Hannah inquired, though there was no malice in her voice. “Not that I don’t want to go.”

“Amanda O’Neill invited us so that we could get to know each other. Seeing as we sit at lunch and attend most classes together,” Diana replied.

“Yeah, but they don’t really like us.” Hannah quirked an eyebrow. “Or at least, the red team seems not to.”

“And whose fault might that be?” The blonde stood up and went to fetch her own sleepwear. Her voice was hollow, void of any emotion. Hannah couldn’t tell whether she liked the red team or was just pointing out the obvious. It was probably the latter; Diana only spoke the truth.

“Ours…” both Hannah and Barbara said, wincing simultaneously.

“Don’t feel too bad about it, girls,” Diana slowly murmured before pausing to think, “I too would prefer, if possible, not to involve myself unnecessarily with others. However, since we’ll be attending Luna Nova together for the next three years, it wouldn’t hurt to give them a chance. Be civil and they shall do the same.”

“Yes, Diana,” the two replied. It was quiet as Diana slipped on her nightwear and brushed her hair.

“Should we cover our soul stains up?” Barbara abruptly broke the silence in the room.

“That might be a good idea. There’s no social gathering without someone bringing soul stains into it.” Hannah crossed her arms and leaned back on her bed. “No telling what might happen.”

“Miss O’Neill gave me her word that our soul stains would be safe,” said Diana. She continued, “Though, if you’re still wary, you can cover it up. If you need help with illusionary magic, let me know.”

“I can use makeup. I don’t want to bother you.” Barbara stared at the black stain on her forearm.

“I’ll use that too,” Hannah nodded, “but I think I’ll be fine.”

The auburn-haired girl looked at her own oversized sweater. There was no way anyone would be able to see underneath. Unless they, for some creepy reason, tried to while her guard was down. Except, even then Hannah wasn’t worried because she’d have the protection of makeup—as long as it didn’t rub off—as well as Diana and Barbara watching out for her.

“It’s not a bother at all. I’d be happy to help you both, considering yours is a little too big for makeup to effectively hide,” Diana stated.

“Barb, I think you should let Diana cast the spell. Yours is in a visible place.” Hannah glanced over at her best friend.

“Sweaters have sleeves.” Barbara closed a book she’d been reading and neatly placed it back on the shelf.

“It is risky, considering the fact that it wouldn’t take much for them to roll up,” Diana reached for her wand.

“Yeah.” Hannah nodded. “We’ll be fine since no one is going to try and see beneath our shirts.”

“Unless they’re gay,” Barbara quipped.

“They’re not.” Hannah paused before laughing, “Actually, O’Neill probably is.”

“Or your clothes could get wet. Amanda’s known for having tricks and pranks up her sleeve. Also, Akko’s one-hundred percent accident prone,” Barbara pointed out, stifling a giggle.

“That’s true,” Hannah snorted and rolled her eyes.

“Which is why you both should consider the spell,” said Diana. She waved her wand and whispered an incantation, sliding the magical tool underneath her silk pastel blue gown. When she had finished, she asserted, “A spell of this level is something I’m perfectly capable of. It won’t take long; I can do it right now.”

Hannah and Barbara looked at each other hesitantly. Since the beginning of the month, Diana cast the spell on herself and Barbara’s arm was slathered in makeup every day.

Hannah didn’t really see the point of that. The uniforms consisted of a long-sleeved shirt and navy blue vest. She hadn’t planned on meeting anyone aside from her roommates nor did she think she was going to wear anything that would expose her torso.

Diana took extra precautions with her soul stain, even though it would rarely ever be seen and she’s hard enough to approach as it is. Even if someone did touch her, they wouldn’t be able to see the reaction.

Soul stains change color when they’re touched by your soul mate, but they certainly **don’t** glow.

Barbara had her stain in a much more noticeable place; Hannah could understand why she was a little more paranoid about it. But it’s not everyday that your uniform gets wet. Plus, the sleeves on the shirt don’t roll up easily.

Then there was Atsuko Kagari and Amanda O’Neill, two girls who didn’t even _try_ to hide their markings. By the nine, Amanda actually seemed to flaunt hers—Hannah never understood how she could be proud of a slap. Wouldn’t that mean she’d pissed off her soulmate?

“If it’s not too much trouble, Diana,” Barbara said slowly, snapping Hannah out of her thoughts. “I’d really appreciate it!”

“Alright.” Diana gave her a small smile. Barbara rolled up her sweater’s left sleeve to reveal the mark, which Diana promptly aimed her wand at.

“I think I’ll be fine,” Hannah voiced.

“Okay, if you change your mind, please feel free to speak up.” Diana then chanted the words necessary to cast the concealing spell. Once it was completed, the black stain was gone, leaving only Barbara’s milky-white skin.

“Wow,” she breathed, rubbing her fingers over where the mark had been. “It’s like it’s not even there!”

“It’s a very useful spell,” Diana remarked.

“Why doesn’t everyone use it?” Barbara asked.

“Illusionary magic is a higher level spell.” Diana put her wand away.

“And not everyone feels the need to hide their mark,” Hannah reminded.

“It’s about time for us to go,” announced the blonde. They were to arrive at curfew, 8:00 pm. Right now, it was a quarter til’.

“You have the stuff?” Barbara questioned.

“Yes.” Diana held up the tea maker that one of her maids had given her before she left for Luna Nova. Hannah picked up some cups while Barbara grabbed a small overnight bag. “Let’s go.”

Diana locked the door behind them and proceeded down the hall in the direction of the green team’s room. The two other girls followed close in pursuit.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *A joke referencing the bathroom scene from Heathers - The Musical (and maybe movie but I haven’t seen that yet)  
> If you caught it, I’m proud of you
> 
> That went by quickly! But not to worry, the... dare I call it a slumber party lol?.. is about to start!  
> We’ll have to see if the blue team’s efforts to hide their soul stains work.
> 
> Also I confirmed that the biggest hint in chapter 1 was when Sucy says, “...until I brew the right potion.”
> 
> Oh!! And I want to sum up some of the soul stain locations we know.
> 
> Akko: Smudge on the upper right side of her face  
> Amanda: Handprint on her left cheek  
> Sucy: Two handprints on her chest  
> Lotte: Handprint on her right shoulder  
> Barbara: Handprint/blotch on her left forearm
> 
> Diana: Somewhere on her torso or upper legs  
> Hannah: Somewhere 100% on her torso
> 
> Constanze: ?  
> Jasminka: ?  
> Chariot/Ursula: ?  
> Croix: ?
> 
> With all that in mind, I encourage you to wonder and comment!  
> I’d love to see what you think as well as if I need to make some of the hints a little bit more prominent... either that or I could leave them subtle until the primary part of the story... hmm  
> When that happens, I’d look back to see if you can catch everything
> 
> Thank you!


	4. Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As usual, the blue team shows up with perfect-timing. The green team decides to kick off the night with a movie. Hannah texts Amanda once more, for potentially the last time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back!  
> Okay, a few things I wanna mention:
> 
> First, thank you all so much for reading and commenting, I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. I really can’t express enough gratitude for all the support! I love seeing you come up with theories and try to search for the hints!
> 
> Next, a few of you keep wondering about Diana’s soul stain being the result of Akko’s clumsiness. That would be cute lol but I want to clarify that consent/intent is an important part of this fic. Mark on person Y is caused when person X intentionally tries to touch person Y. Person X’s mark is caused when person Y intentionally tries to touch them. Therefore there aren’t any corresponding marks because that would be way too easy ;))  
> Ofc, handshakes get kinda weird bc they would have the same mark. Unless person X is a little too eager to shake person Y’s hand lmao
> 
> Additionally, this is a somewhat fast-paced chapter that’s supposed to zippity zoom us further in time. Think of it as... a build-up of what’s to come.
> 
> AND FINALLY!!  
> I know many of you are here for diakko! Trust me, I didn’t intend for this to be a Hamanda-centric fanfic. Have patience, it’ll come. Just bc I also wanted to see diakko, I slipped some tiny moments in there.
> 
> There’s a couple more hints in this chapter, but they’re not as important as the ones in the previous chapters. Well... actually they might be. But when everything falls into place, they’ll become more clear, haha.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Stop!!!” Akko screamed and ran as fast as her legs could take her. There wasn’t really anywhere to go in the green team’s room, which was crowded by its members and the red team— the blue team had yet to arrive.

“Run, Akko, run!” Sucy laughed hysterically.*

The Japanese girl did so… or at least, she tried to. While trying to evade the grabby hands of Amanda, she slipped and fell. Her jaw slammed into the corner of a nearby dresser on her way down to the ground. 

“Akko!” Lotte exclaimed, dropping her book and rushing over to check on her. She was face-down on the floor next to Constanze’s bed, motionless.

“Oh shit.” Amanda froze and gaped at her.

“Ouch,” Akko whined, slowly pushing herself upwards. Pain seared through the entire lower part of her face, but it wasn’t anything she hadn’t felt before. Really, she was more embarrassed than she was hurting.

“You’re bleeding,” Jasminka gasped worriedly.

“Are you okay?” Lotte crouched beside Akko. Constanze quickly handed her a handkerchief, which she used to dab her face. “That was a pretty big fall!”

The cut wasn’t deep, but it would definitely leave a temporary scar. Lotte scanned her eyes over the skin. It was an angry red, beginning to turn slightly purple.

“Yeah, I’m fine!” Akko started to laugh, but winced due to the pain. “It happens!”

“Fuck, Akko. I’m sorry,” Amanda looked her in the eye with an overwhelming amount of guilt.

“It’s okay!” Akko smiled to the best of her abilities at the taller girl. She sat up and brushed her clothes off. “This isn’t the first time I’ve fallen down.”

“And certainly not the last,” Sucy snorted. 

“Not the time!” Lotte furrowed her eyebrows.

“Awe, she’s trying her bes—“ Jasminka started.

A knock at the door interrupted her. Both teams turned their heads towards it. Amanda gave Akko one last remorseful look before she went to let their other guests in. “I got it.”

“Hello, Miss O’Neill,” Diana greeted. Her eyes met Akko’s and the two seemed to have a silent stare down. Posture prim, proper, and perfect, even as she held a fairly large tea-maker in her arms, she was ushered into the room by Amanda. 

“Hey, Amanda,” Hannah said casually as she and Barbara stepped into the room after Diana. “Whoa.”

“What… happened here?” Barbara questioned, eyes widening in surprise when she saw Lotte trying to disinfect Akko’s wound.

“Ahah... AH—“ Akko shrieked as her face was dabbed at. She then pointed an accusing finger at Amanda. “Sucy bet Amanda an entire week’s worth of dessert that my soul stain was fake and that it’s actually on my boobs!”

“Why would she do that?” Hannah frowned at Sucy. 

“Why would Amanda believe me?” Sucy countered. She stopped stacking pillows around herself. “She probably just wanted to feel up Akko’s tits,” the mauve-haired girl snickered.

“Hey!” Amanda turned bright red and threw an empty water bottle that hit Sucy right in the face; she didn’t even flinch. “It’s not like that, really!”

“Akko,” Diana calmly crossed the room to the said girl, “are you alright? Shall I take you to the nurse?”

“No way! It’s after curfew and what if she makes me go back to my room! I came here to have fun!” Akko cried, flinching away from Diana and further towards Lotte. Noticing this, Diana took a couple steps back. Her lips pursed together and she chose not to say anything.

“Calm down, you’ll survive. You won’t need to leave for this.” Sucy rolled her eyes and tossed a box of bandages to Lotte. The Finnish girl caught it, plucked a patch from it, and gently stuck it on Akko’s face.

“There,” she said, moving to discard the wrapper.

“Akko, I’m… for real, I’m so sorry,” Amanda sighed. She rubbed the back of her neck before offering Akko a hand.

“She’s fine,” Hannah dismissed.

“I’m fine!” Akko grinned. Rather than accepting Amanda’s help, she hopped to her feet with the same abundant amount of energy she had before. 

“Well, that’s good.” Amanda ignored Hannah, causing her to scowl slightly. 

“This is why you need to find your soulmate, O’Neill,” Sucy said in her typical dull-toned voice, “you really need someone who can keep you under control.”

“Shut up,” Amanda barked at her. “I’m working on it.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t been working on your list,” Sucy sneered.

“Easy, now,” Jasminka warned. She actually set her container of chocolate chip cookies down to carefully separate the two. 

“I just haven’t had the time!” Amanda glared harshly, feeling herself getting riled up. 

“I brought tea to soothe the nerves,” said Diana as she set her portable machine down. She must’ve sensed the building tension in the room. Using her wand, she cast a spell to fill it with water.

“We have snacks,” Jasminka said proudly with a mouthful of potato chips. Like that, she‘d moved back to her place next to the pile of snacks. “Plenty for everyone!” she cheered.

“Cons is gonna set up a movie for us to watch,” Amanda added. Quickly, the tension in the room collapsed as everyone slowly began to relax. 

“What movie?” Lotte inquired, joining Akko on a pile of blankets next to the bunk bed. 

“ _Saving Private Ryan_ ,” she replied.

“A war movie?” Barbara’s face scrunched up in disgust. “Isn’t there anything else?”

“It was either that or Titanic.” Amanda shrugged.

“Egh. Gross—“ Sucy grumbled.

“What are we watching it on?” Akko looked around the room curiously. There didn’t seem to be any sort of screen.

“Constanze’s projector!” Jasminka opened a bag of pretzels. A few of them popped out and onto the floor, but she obviously didn’t mind. The friendly giant picked them up and ate them.

“Interesting. I’m assuming she made it herself?” Diana’s expression actually showed a little bit of amusement. It disappeared the moment Akko caught her eye.

Constanze wordlessly nodded at her. Akko bit the inside of her cheek when Diana walked closer to inspect and admire the small entertainment device. 

She knew for a fact that this was a side of Diana she’d never seen before. It was so… peaceful. Her expression, which was always stony around Akko, actually appeared soft. Akko momentarily tuned out the sound in the room to focus on the blonde.

Diana asked Constanze questions as the projector was being booted up. The small German didn’t verbally answer her, but she did point to different parts of the machine. Akko simply watched, puzzled by Diana’s behavior.

In class, Diana was serious, intelligent, and eager to participate. She was pretty much the same outside of school. Although, she seemed more cold and bitter in between classes, or at least, that’s how she acted in Akko’s presence. 

Akko was so caught up in observing Diana that she didn’t even notice when the British witch’s conversation with Constanze had ended. Now, Diana was staring right back at her. Akko felt her skin crawl under those glacial blue eyes.

Blue. Akko normally liked the color blue. It was the pools in the summer, the ocean by the beach, the sky on a gorgeous day, the sadness when you lose, the smell of ripe fruit, the loyalty of a friend, and the color of Diana Cavendish’s eyes. Blue reminded her of Diana’s unreadable gaze every single time Akko so much as breathed. She was both afraid of it and besotted with it.

Whenever Diana looked at her, she felt like some part of her was being acknowledged. She also felt like another part was being harshly judged. Now that Akko thought about it, it was probably more... judgement than it was acknowledgement. She pondered the idea of Diana actually considering her a rival.

As Constanze rolled out a big white sheet and hung it from the post of the bunk bed to the corner of the wall above her bed, the other girls settled in.

“We should watch Titanic,” Lotte suggested shyly. 

“Ew,” Akko stuck her tongue out, “that movie’s _so_ boring.”

“A giant ass ship literally crashes into an iceberg, sinks, and almost everyone dies,” Amanda laughed. She playfully threw a handful of popcorn at her, leading Akko to take off her sock and hurl it at her. “Your foot smells like shit!” she shouted.

“Language, O’Neill,” Diana scolded only to be completely ignored. Akko and Amanda continued to make a complete mess, throwing practically everything around them at each other.

Lotte wrapped her arms around a bowl of popcorn and leaned away from the brunette beside her. Even though Akko had recently gotten injured, she and Amanda had obviously had learned nothing about messing around. Sucy’s eyes flickered between the two while she ducked to avoid the food and pillows flying over her head.

“I think we should watch Titanic too,” Barbara said. Once their overnight bag was stored safely at the end of the bed and close to the door, she pulled out her book and began to read.

“You just want to drool over young Leonardo DiCaprio,” Hannah snorted. Her hazel orbs watched Amanda escape to the top bunk and throw a blanket over Akko’s head. 

You don’t?!” Barbara looked at her in incredulity. However, she quickly turned back to her book, far too into the fiction than reality.

Hannah had completely zoned out now. Maybe Amanda would be a little more attractive if she took care of that sloppily presented hair—did she even own a brush? 

Even the members of the blue team couldn’t hold back a tiny smile as Akko screamed and thrashed around beneath the blanket. How were they not getting reported for all the noise?

It took them at least fifteen, maybe twenty minutes, to prepare for the movie. Akko and Amanda had finally tired eachother out.

Diana was, unshockingly, sitting in between Hannah and Barbara on Constanze’s bed. Sucy, Lotte, and Akko were on the floor in front of the bunk bed while Amanda and Jasminka were on the top.

Snacks and drinks were offered around as the movie began. Akko was particularly overjoyed by the pickled plums that were promised to her yesterday. No one else seemed to want anything to do with them—not that she was complaining. She wolfed them down but froze when, for what seemed like the millionth time in an hour, Diana Cavendish began staring at her. For once, Akko chose not to say anything, instead continuing to enjoy the delicious, juicy plums.

Constanze climbed her way up the ladder and plopped down next to Amanda. Nobody actually made any comments or spoke during the movie, which was unexpected. Even Akko was dead silent, which was something that everyone, especially Diana, hadn’t thought she was capable of being. 

Diana’s calculating gaze shifted off of Akko and back to the screen. What an intriguing girl; rowdy one moment, composed in another. 

* * *

Near the end of the movie, Hannah saw Amanda lean over the side of the bunk bed. It seemed like she was staring at the ground below. Either that or she was interested in the popcorn that still remained in Lotte’s bowl. 

Akko was currently eating out of it, highly invested in the movie. Hannah continued to watch Amanda, who didn’t move a muscle. Was she asleep?

Curiously, she decided to find out. Hannah pulled out her phone, lowered its brightness all the way down, and typed out a message.

* * *

September 17, 2019

_Hannah England: Are you awake?_

_Amanda O’Neill is typing…_

Hannah glanced upwards to see that Amanda had propped herself up against the wall. Next to her, Jasminka was eating and Constanze was working on some sort of trinket. Yeah. There was no way she could’ve fallen asleep. A small vibration in Hannah’s hands caused her attention to move back to her phone.

_Amanda O’Neill: yea_

Hannah noted that Diana and Akko’s eyes were drawn to the action on the projector screen. Barbara was reading and it seemed that Lotte was doing the same thing. Sucy was trying to watch the movie while writing something on a sticky note. Seeing that everyone was preoccupied, Hannah slid further into her blanket.

_Hannah England: Do you think that our presentation went well today?_

_Amanda O’Neill: ofc. You were amazing_

_Hannah England: You weren’t bad either._

_Amanda O’Neill: thanks lol. It was fun working with you_

_Hannah England: Yeah._

_Hannah England: Do you have anything planned after this? Diana will probably want to go to bed, but it’ll only be around 10pm._

_Amanda O’Neill: hell yea I do_

_Hannah England: Like what?_

_Amanda O’Neill: dare or drink_

_Hannah England: We’re minors._

_Amanda O’Neill: nah stupid. Cons and I made a really gross mixture of sodas and juices. Plus, there’s magic brownie bites_

_Hannah England: Magic brownie bites?_

_Amanda O’Neill: oh yeah those have a bit in them. Bourbon and chocolate mmm_

_Hannah England: What the hell?_

_Amanda O’Neill: don’t worry. It’s just like eating liquor chocolates_

_Hannah England: Well, I still think that dare or drink is a stupid idea._

_Amanda O’Neill: you’re a stupid idea_

_Amanda O’Neill: jk, you’re like Akko’s thighs… SmOkiNg H0t !!!!_

Hannah felt her face heat up. When she looked up, Amanda had a hand over her mouth as she mischievously smiled from across the room. Amanda was doing a terrible job stifling the laughter. 

“Shut up, Amanda!” Akko suddenly yelled. “Captain Miller is dying and you’re ruining this fucking emotional moment!”

“Akko!” Diana’s attention actually deviated from the screen and she shot the Japanese girl a sharp glare before turning back.

“Sorry, sorry,” Amanda laughed and quieted herself down.

_Amanda O’Neill: sorry. I just wanted to see your reaction_

_Hannah England: You’re a menace._

_Amanda O’Neill: anyways, dare or drink. You playin?_

_Hannah England: If Barbara does, then I will._

_Amanda O’Neill: come on, the drinks are nice and lukewarm_

_Hannah England: That’s disgusting._

_Amanda O’Neill: hey, be glad that Jas stopped me from putting almond milk in_

_Hannah England: Gross!_

_Amanda O’Neill: you in or not?_

_Hannah England: Maybe._

_Amanda O’Neill is typing…_

Hannah flinched and dropped her phone. She covered her ears in attempts to block out the blaring music coming from the surround sound system. The ending credits. When she found the source of her ear-damage, she noticed Akko.

Her hands were on the remote and she was violently sobbing while turning the volume up as loud as it could go. Lotte was trying to wrestle it out of her hands and Sucy just cackled from where she sat, bundled in blankets like a pupa in a cocoon.

Constanze climbed down the ladder and dashed to the projector in order to turn it off. Meanwhile, Diana and Barbara were also covering their ears, telling Akko to quiet down. Once she had, the room was completely silent. 

For a moment, nobody spoke a word. Akko worried she’d gone deaf until Amanda’s restrained laugh entered her ears. The Japanese girl sniffed and wiped her face on her sleeve. Everyone was taking this moment to get a grip.

That’s when Amanda hopped off of the top bunk. The American waltzed over to the corner of the room and snagged a fairly big box as well as a large 2-liter container of who-knows-what. 

“Now that the warm up is over, who’s ready for dare or drink?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Reference to Forrest Gump (1994) directed by Robert Zemeckis and based off of the original novel by Winston Groom. 
> 
> Thanks for coming back and reading! Now that we’re a bit further into the night, the fun can begin~
> 
> Ugh... I swear, I need to pick someone for a chapter and stick with it. Third-person omniscient gets soooo confusing and annoying to the point where you can’t tell whose thoughts are whose.  
> I could be all like  
> ‘Yo that bitch is thicc,’ thought Amanda.  
> But personally, I’ve never liked that style of portraying thought. It seems too... detached?  
> Anyways I’ll start trying to designate characters to chapters that I’ll write third-person limited for. Though I think that it’s pretty clear that the Hamanda texts so far have been mostly from Hannah’s perspective.  
> I did the exact same thing in BoaF.  
> I was like “third person limited”.  
> *Proceeds to write out the thoughts and feelings of literally every single god damned character  
> I’m working on it hmm... 
> 
> The title of this chapter, Blue, is not a hint. I chose it because of Akko’s little short bit about Diana watching her. Also, she’s soft so she cries a lot.
> 
> In regards to comments... I love them, I adore them, I will try to put as much effort into responding to them as you do into writing them! If I don’t respond in the same day, don’t freak out! I’m probably just thinking of how to thoughtfully answer. And I say this because when I commented on fanfics previously, I always had this lowkey anxiety whenever I didn’t receive a response. Like oml godly writers pls bestow some worthiness upon me—
> 
> ******and just because I’m mean, I put some fake clues/hints in there ;)) are you reading too far into it or are you not reading far enough into it? 
> 
> Good luck and thanks for reading!


	5. Eat it, Drink it, Do it (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana’s seriousness begins to annoy Amanda while Amanda’s shenanigans get under Diana’s skin. The group decides to begin their game of dare or drink... but not without a little pre-game trouble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I lied—I decided that it would be best to keep this chapter together rather than break it into smaller ones.
> 
> ***There IS a part 2 of the sleepover, as implied in the chapter title! It’s not over yet! 
> 
> What was supposed to be a light-hearted quickly read one-shot ended up becoming a... well from the looks of it, a pretty well-enjoyed fanfic! Buckle your seatbelts because I’ve been scribbling down a storyboard that’ll have you in for a ride!
> 
> I do want to warn that sooo much happens in this chapter. Honestly, it’s the reason why I wanted to split it apart. But then I read somewhere that shorter chapters actually piss people off so I guess good luck and have fun!
> 
> Part 2... or is it part 3 if the sleepover began in the last chap... is on its way!
> 
> This chapter focuses in on Akko a little more, as this fanfic was supposed to. I have no idea when I started writing more Amanda and Hannah than I did Akko. Hopefully this draws us back to her starring as the real MC here.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> *edit: minor grammatical errors fixed

“Dare or drink?” Diana narrowed her eyes. She did not look enthusiastic about the idea. 

“Yeah, Cavendish!” Amanda grinned from ear to ear. Holding up the large bottle for everyone to see, she explained, “What I have here is a concoction of at least five different drinks made by yours truly and Jas!”

“Why is it black?” Akko asked, raising her hand in the air. She was never one to wait until the teacher called on her.

“Good question! It could be because of the coke or the grape juice. I don’t actually know.” Amanda shrugged. With a hand, she motioned for everyone to come a little closer. 

“Does it contain any sort of alcoholic beverage?” Diana inquired slowly. Her eyes cautiously scanned over the two-liter container. The murky substance within swished slightly from side to side as Amanda sat herself down.

“No, but the brownies do,” Hannah said with an eye roll. 

They’d gathered into a circular formation on the floor. Akko noticed that Diana, Hannah, and Barbara were together, as always, but Diana was sitting… right next to her? She stiffened and tried not to look too bothered by it, but Diana seemed to have noticed. Of course, the blonde didn’t comment on it. 

Constanze and Jasminka opted out of the game, they were spectating from Constance’s bed. Lotte was going to join them until Akko had whined and pleaded her to stay and play with them. This was Akko’s first sleepover and real party game since the school year had begun. She couldn’t do anything about Constanze and Jasminka, but Lotte was one of her best friends—no way was she going to let her sit out.

“What?” Diana set her jaw and Akko thought she was about to reprimand Amanda. Instead, she folded her arms and straightened her back. Was this her way of controlling her temper? Akko figured that she could learn a thing or two from that… though it probably wouldn’t work. Akko knew herself well and she was very well aware that when Atsuko Kagari was pissed, rarely anything calmed her down.

“Come on, Cavendish… lighten up a little. You’ve had more alcohol at your fancy rich people parties than what’s in magic brownie bites,” said Amanda. She put the box on the floor in front of her and then stacked the bottle on top. Constanze was passing around plastic cups as she spoke. “And it’s not like I’m gonna make you eat them. They’re here because they’re good.”

“Can I try one?” Akko piped up. Her eyes gleamed with excitement and wonder. The rich brown chocolate brownie bites was making her mouth water. 

“No,” Diana replied sternly before Amanda could even open her mouth. 

“What? Diana, you’re not the boss of me,” Akko complained childishly. Though deep down, she was somewhat annoyed. 

Did Diana think she could tell her what she can and can not do because she’s some prodigy aristocrat witch from some ancient family? Because if that’s the case, then Akko had a thing or two to say… Akko would have totally said something. However seeing as she’d already injured herself and disrupted everyone at the end of the movie, she figured that it might be best to let it slide. Just this once. Only once.

“Yeah, what’s it matter to you?” Sucy glared at the blonde witch. Beside her, Lotte put a hand on her shoulder; Sucy let her tense shoulders sag. The expression on her face was still sour though. 

Akko was a little touched by this. Sucy usually picked on her and occasionally made comments that Akko would expect to hear from Hannah or Barbara. Thus, a defensive Sucy was a rare Sucy, and a rare Sucy was something Akko had to capture—even if it was just for a brief moment. 

“I don’t see why she can’t. One wouldn’t hurt,” Lotte sighed. Akko perked up and shot her a big smile. She knew that Lotte would normally be against it, so her approval was special. Wow. Her friends were really sticking their necks out for her tonight. Akko wished she knew a spell to will the water in her eyes back into her tear ducts. 

Diana exhaled, pinched the bridge of her nose, and said nothing more. On her other side, Barbara was griping about how ridiculous this is. The blonde agreed with a slight nod of her head. 

Hannah, Akko noticed, was attentively watching Amanda pour the dark mixture into a cup. Both of them looked repulsed by it, but Amanda seemed to be slightly mesmerized by it. Akko giggled when the American tried to make Hannah taste it.

“Akko?” She turned to look at Lotte. “Didn’t you want to try a brownie?”

Akko stared for a moment. When did the magic brownie bites get passed over here? Screw it. It wasn’t worth overthinking. 

“Yeah!” she exclaimed and grabbed at the box.

Since they were small, Akko popped three in her mouth and chewed slowly. It was shit. Totally, totally shit. Did these even count as brownies? They couldn’t be; they shouldn’t be. After a few seconds of twisting her face into a grimace, Akko became aware of the laughter around her.

“Can’t handle it?” Hannah mocked. Barbara laughed with her while Diana just gave her that same, frustrating unreadable stare.

“Shut up, Hannah. You probably couldn’t eat one,” Amanda retorted. She put her hands up in the air and called out, “Akko, here.”

“Ugh, I think you ruined chocolate for me,” she groaned, chucking the box at her. In response to that, Jasminka gave Sucy a box of apple juice, which was then handed over to Akko. Once she realized that the drink was for her, Akko brightened up, eager to rid her mouth of the nauseating taste. “Thanks!”

“What?” Hannah thrust herself towards Barbara and away from Amanda

“You’re eating one,” the taller girl laughed. 

“What?” Her eyes widened, “No!”

“Yeah! Akko, come hold her down.” Amanda grinned, magic brownie bite in hand and ready to force-feed Hannah. Akko was getting up to move when she felt Diana’s intense stare on her. 

It was icy and almost threatening. Diana didn’t even have to say anything for the message to be conveyed. Even to Akko, it was a simple enough concept. _Don’t you dare make this worse_.

“Amanda, no. No. No! Nononono—“ Hannah proceeded to scoot further back into Barbara’s arms. Her best friend grabbed her shoulder protectively and flashed Amanda a creeped out look. 

“Hell yeah, baby! Open up!” she ordered, shuffling on her hands and knees towards her. Hannah’s face flushed a bright red and she was now scrambling on the floor to get away. That’s when Diana came to her rescue.

“Miss O’Neill, I’ll have you know that forcing someone to comply with that you wish is incredibly disgusting and profoundly disturbing,” Diana said angrily. Akko didn’t fail to notice the way that she slightly quivered beside her. 

“Hey, are you okay?” asked the brunette.

“I’m fine,” Diana snapped in response. 

“Oh… okay.” Akko awkwardly scratched her head. 

“By the nine, Diana, didn’t think I was serious, did you?” Amanda frowned and sat back on her haunches. 

“I can never tell with you, Miss O’Neill.” Diana pursed her lips and shook her head. The air in the room was tense, but only for a split second. Surprisingly, Hannah was the one to ease everyone back into starting the game. 

“Oh my— it’s fine.” Hannah snatched the brownie out of Amanda’s hand and stuck it in her mouth. Immediately, she cringed, probably tasting the bourbon rather than the chocolate. When she swallowed, she looked right at Akko and grumbled, “Well… I don’t know how you managed to stomach three of those.”

A big smile found her way onto Akko’s face. This was far from one of Hannah’s cynical remarks and insults that she’d grown so used to hearing. “It’s super gross, right?” she laughed.

“We playin’ or not?” Amanda smirked, moving back to her original spot. 

“Fuck yeah, we are!” Akko cheered, pumping her fists in the air.

“Akko!” Diana scolded. By now, she was used to Diana chiding her every action—even though it didn’t seem like her place to. Really, Akko wondered if she was a control-freak. Then again, she didn’t know Diana very well so she could just be really uptight. Akko noted the tiniest bit of weariness in her voice.

“Who taught her that?” Lotte heaved another sigh before turning to Sucy, “Was it you?” 

Sucy snorted and pointed to Amanda. “Obviously, it was Amanda.”

“Amanda—“ Lotte started. She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and put her hands on her hips. Akko knew that she was about to give a scolding.

“Well, would you look at that? The concoction’s gonna explode if we don’t start soon!” Amanda practically shouted. She held up the bottle of ‘mystery’ fluids and shook it vigorously over her head. Akko was almost afraid that it would burst open and paint the room black.

“What—Amanda that doesn’t even make any sense.” Hannah’s brow furrowed. 

“Quiet down, Miss O’Neill,” Diana sighed.

“Can you quit it with the ‘Miss O’Neill’ shit?” Amanda frowned at Diana. She lowered the shaken bottle and slammed it back onto the floor. “It’s super fucking annoying.”

“Don’t be so crass towards Diana,” Barbara hissed. She was about to say more when a dainty hand was lifted into the air.

“Alright. What would you prefer to be called?” Diana met Amanda’s sharp, mint-green eyes with more composure than Akko could’ve had in this situation. Akko’s own eyes flickered between the two.

“Amanda. No formalities or shit like that,” the American replied. Akko swore that she saw her wink.

“Very well then.” Diana nodded. Mature as ever compared to Amanda. Akko watched her take a small sip of tea. When did she pour that? “I’ll refer to you as Amanda now.”

“Cool, cool,” Amanda’s face brightened up a bit, clearly satisfied, “Who wants to start?”

“We’re _still_ playing?” Barbara snickered to Hannah as she leaned in close to her ear.

“Yeah, Barbara. We _are_ , gotta problem?” Amanda called out. The other girl rolled her eyes and huffed in response.

“Let’s start!” Akko cheered. Party games with Amanda seemed like they’d be a lot of fun. She was eager to see what was in store. “Someone go!”

“Alright,” Amanda cracked her knuckles and looked around the room, “Hannah.” Akko let out a breath of relief as Hannah stiffened in her spot. She was glad that she wasn’t called on—who knows what kind of embarrassing stuff Amanda could’ve made her do. “Show us your soul stain.”

“Amanda.” Diana’s eyes were slits as she glared harshly. The amount of venom in her voice sent chills down Akko’s spine. From beside her, Diana barked, “You promised.”

“Relax, I was just kiddin’ around,” Amanda snorted. She eyed Hannah up and down while thinking. “Aha, I got a good one.”

“Get on with it,” Sucy growled in annoyance. She’d procured a cup of the concoction and was now swirling it around in boredom. 

“Since I’m pretty sure you’re straight… gayest thing you’ve ever done, go!” She grinned, even more so when Hannah’s face appeared conflicted. Akko noticed how she and Barbara exchanged glances before exploding in a fit of giggles.

“What’s going on?” Akko questioned.

“Yeah, are we missing something here?” Amanda’s eyebrows shot up.

“I mean… it’s just that when you have a best friend, pretty much anything you do can come across as gay... if you really think about it,” Barbara said between laughs. She then composed herself, probably remembering that she was not only in front of Diana, but also two teams who she likely despised. Straightening her posture to match Diana’s, she coughed into her hand, “I’ll let Hannah elaborate… seeing as this is her dare.”

“Okay, let me think.” Hannah, whose face was flushed red despite her efforts to appear calm, was trying not to let Amanda get to her. Akko mentally applauded her; the reaction to the dare wasn’t what she’d expected from Hannah. 

Then again, was Hannah even straight? Was Barbara straight? And… what about Diana? Akko let her gaze drift from Hannah to the blonde in question. She wondered how Diana felt about that sort of stuff… Actually, if she had the nerve to hate on Shiny Chariot, then she was probably repulsed by it. Finding that she’d gotten herself all worked up, Akko tried to distract herself by picking at one of the bandages on her legs.

“I’ve taken baths with Barb before,” Hannah finally said, in the most casual of ways, “We’ve also slept in the same bed together several times.” 

“Boring!” Amanda booed, giving her a thumbs down. “Should’ve just taken the drink!” she teased.

“Ugh, you—“ Hannah cut herself off and shook her head. She quickly decided to take her turn, “Diana, can you give me Andrew Hanbridge’s phone number?”

Well, Akko’s doubts were put to rest. Hannah definitely had to be straight. Straight enough to ask Diana for some dude’s number; if he knew Diana, he was probably super rich too.

Diana sighed and reached for the phone Hannah was giving her. That’s when she hesitated. Oh? Could it be that Diana had a thing for this Andrew guy? Diana’s eyes moved between the phone and the cup of black liquid.

“Who’s Andrew Handburg?” Akko couldn’t hold in her curiosity.

“ _Andrew Hanbridge_ ,” Barbara corrected. She momentarily looked shocked that Akko didn’t know who he was. “Oh right, you wouldn’t know him. He’s much too refined. Andrew Hanbridge is only the hottest, most intelligent guy at Appleton AND he’s a wealthy viscount,” swooned Barbara.

“Keepin’ him to yourself, Cavendish?” Amanda sniggered. 

“Not at all,” Diana glared across the circle at Amanda, “I’m merely debating whether or not a silly game is worth revealing the personal information of a family friend’s son.” Akko watched her snatch the phone from Hannah’s hand and bitterly say, “However, I certainly am not in the mood to consume this… mixture… and have decided that I don’t mind giving away his number because there is nothing between us and there never will be.”

“Whoa.” Sucy’s eyes widened and Amanda took a gulp. Akko nervously shifted from beside Diana, unsure how to react. 

“Okay then…” Amanda mumbled. For once, she didn’t say anything crude or offensive. Akko felt a little relieved; the last thing she wanted was for Diana to completely explode. 

It took Diana about a minute or so to type out Andrew’s phone number. Akko wondered if she’d ever used a phone, given the way she awkwardly pecked at the keyboard. The graceful, almighty Diana Cavendish that she knew would be a quick and efficient. Perhaps technology was a little out of her area of expertise? Akko wondered if she even owned a phone.

“There,” Diana breathed, handing the phone back to Hannah. Hannah’s face didn’t brighten as much as Akko thought it would. Her reaction was rather dull; Akko thought she’d be squealing and quaking in her seat like Barbara. Hannah looked mildly shocked and Akko was just about confused by it as Diana. 

“Thanks…” Hannah murmured. She slowly reached across Barbara to grab her phone, now containing _the_ Andrew Hanbridge’s contact.

“You’re welcome.” Diana nodded. Her hand moved up to her face where she pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a sigh. Akko observed this with curiosity. 

Whenever Diana was feeling stressed or annoyed or tired or anything aside from her usual stoic-self, she pinched the bridge of her nose. Perhaps it was another way of relaxing herself? Subconsciously, Akko reached up to pinch her own nose. 

She froze when she realized that Diana was looking right at her. Embarrassed for reasons that Akko couldn’t describe, she quickly dropped her hand and sat on it. Diana gave her that frustratingly unreadable, probably judgemental side-glance before looking straight ahead. 

“Sucy, please refrain from any potion brewing within the dorms for the next month, please and thank you,” Diana ‘dared’, though it came out more like a request. 

“No idea what you’re talking about,” Sucy deadpanned. A pale, bony hand crawled towards a cup of concoction in front of her. She looked totally serious… until she averted her beady red eyes from Diana. 

“Please, I know about the explosions earlier this week. In fact, everyone knows about them,” said Diana. Her brow creased as Sucy slightly shrunk down into a blanket, obviously guilty. She could be in some serious trouble with the administration. “The entire school heard them. I covered for you after Lotte and Akko begged me to do so—they didn’t want to see you punished or expelled. However, I could easily report the truth, as I probably should have, to the headmaster.” 

“Fine, whatever,” Sucy snarled. Akko wasn’t sure how she felt about this. This was the first time she’d seen Sucy so… enraged. She must really, really hate Diana. Sucy sneered, “But you should stop being such an uptight killjoy before you ruin the mood and fun for everyone.”

“Sucy!” Lotte grabbed her shoulder. 

“Very well,” Diana replied through grit teeth. 

“...Barbara,” Sucy grumbled. When the said girl’s attention was on her, she pointed to the cup of black liquid in front of her. “Drink that shit.”

“What?!” Barbara shrieked. A look of horror crossed her face.

“Ouch, that’s rough,” Amanda commented, holding back a laugh.

“Either way, she’s gotta drink it!” Akko, on the other hand, could not hold back her laughter. Seeing one of her best friends screw over one of her bullies was absolutely fantastic. 

“You’ll pay for this, Manbavaran,” Barbara hissed. She snatched the cup up quickly, determined to get her turn over with. Barbara faltered and her face paled just as her lips were on the rim of the cup. 

“Do it, do it!” Amanda started a peer-pressuring chant. Akko, Sucy, and even Jasminka joined in. Constanze wrote it out on her chalkboard, which she held up high in the air. 

Diana, Hannah, and Lotte weren’t pleased at all. It made sense considering the fact that Diana and Hannah were Barbara’s roommates and friends. Though given how cruel Barbara’s insults can be, Akko was surprised to find that Lotte simply licked her lips and twiddled her thumbs, a prominent and disapproving frown on her face. 

“I hate you!” Barbara yelled before downing it all in one go. With a _thump,_ she slammed the empty cup down. A little bit of black dribbled down her chin and the room was quiet, in wait for a reaction. 

“Barbara,” Diana spoke cautiously, “are you alright?”

The girl was still, unmoving aside from the rise and fall of her shoulders as she breathed. Barbara looked like she was in shock and trying to process what she’d just put in her body. Akko took this as a very, very bad sign. Thus, she slowly reached for one of the plastic bags that had contained the snacks. Too late.

Barbara frantically glanced around, settling her eyes on a backpack. She snatched it up and brought it to her face, which twitched and contorted in disgust. Wheezing and coughing dryly several times, she clutched the, thankfully empty, backpack.

“Barb!” Hannah shouted in a panic, grabbing her upper arm. 

Barbara threw up the contents of her stomach into the backpack. Diana and Hannah were luckily sitting on either side of her. Immediately, Diana was rubbing circles into her back while Hannah was bunching her hair back. Akko was both grossed out and somewhat in a daze. She curiously watched Diana, who was normally so cold and reserved, attempt to comfort Barbara as she violently shuddered and Hannah, whose tongue was normally so sharp and relentless, whisper concerned words of support. It was… a sight to be seen. 

“My backpack!” Amanda hollered, not that anyone really cared at this point.

Meanwhile, everyone else was just frozen, unsure of how to act. After a couple minutes, Jasminka got up to get a wet towel to clean Barbara up and Constanze prepped Stanbot to take the backpack and discard it out back, far away from the dorm room.

“What did you put in there?” Akko asked, still watching the blue team.

“Soy sauce, orange juice, grape juice, coffee, coke… I forgot the others…” Amanda sheepishly laughed, rubbing the back of her neck. “It’s probably the dairy that did it… I put chocolate milk and blueberry almond milk in there too…”

“Amanda!” Akko glanced down at the cup in front of her. And to think—she might have to drink that… She gulped and looked at Barbara. “So are we going to stop for tonight?”

“Hell nah,” Amanda snorted. She waved her hand in a dismissal. “Barbara’s gonna be fine. We’ll bounce back from this. Young Akko, the night is still young!”

“Fuck yeah!” Akko cheered to this. She was actually excited to play dare or drink. It was a game she’d always wanted to try so if they stopped before she got a turn, she’d be super disappointed.

“Akko!” Both Diana and Lotte snapped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That was a whirlwind of stuff, wasn’t it? Well, at least you made it through!
> 
> I gotta say, there was only really one massive plot-changing clue in this chapter. The rest of the stuff was included mostly for character development.  
> Actually, now that I think about it, there might be two others that hint at Diana’s backstory/pre-Luna Nova experiences.
> 
> Did you catch it? I wonder... This chapter had like no fake hints so don’t worry. Just try not to mistake character development for an implication, not that there’s anything wrong with that! I love hearing what you guys think. Sometimes there’s comments where I’m like “whoa wait what that wasn’t supposed to be important” but then I’m like “oh shit now that I think about it that could totally be relevant for the future hmm”.
> 
> As always, I appreciate all the support! I think there’s at least one kudos on here every day. I’ve never really paid much attention to that, but since I get the emails it’s like whoa, I didn’t think anyone was still checking in.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


	6. Eat it, Drink it, Do it (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The game continues on! Sucy reveals an unexpected truth while Amanda’s dare backfires, revealing a certainly unexpected surprise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! 12 more days until I study abroad... GAH I’m so nervous! I don’t think either of my fanfics will be finished anytime soon ;(( I’m quite disappointed about that... luckily I managed to write a lot in the past couple of weeks.
> 
> *****Many of you had difficulties imagining Akko’s soul stain! So, I made a tumblr and decided to draw a pic ;))**
> 
> See Akko’s soul stain:
> 
> https://koumagda.tumblr.com/post/187109310419/first-post-kinda-nervous-hello-im-koumagda-and
> 
> I was gonna say more but... I’ve got nothin’! Enjoy!

In case the tumblr pic isn’t showing up owo)!

* * *

Diana, Hannah, Barbara, and Lotte did _not_ want to continue playing the game. Amanda O’Neill, however, insisted that they all come back from this and play together as a group. After getting Barbara cleaned up, the blue team decided to see where things go. 

Diana reassured Hannah and Barbara that everything would be fine from here on out, but not without warning Amanda to behave. Akko was a little disappointed that they were going to stay, but she was determined to have fun tonight. Not even Diana could get in the way of that.

“Barbara, I believe that it is your turn,” said Diana. She put her now-empty cup of tea down onto a plate with a small _clack_.

“Sure...” Barbara’s eyes immediately settled on Sucy. Of course, she’d go for revenge. Akko expected more fire out of her school bully, but instead she spoke sluggishly; vomiting must’ve drained a lot of energy from her. “I guess... Sucy, tell us about... your crush...if you have one.”

Akko really didn’t think that was a good dare, especially for someone like Sucy. Her best friend had never really expressed an interest in that sort of stuff. It was obvious to everyone. Oh. Now Akko could see the grins on Hannah and Barbara’s faces. 

This was revenge. They knew that Sucy couldn’t possibly have a crush on someone. Everyone waited for the mauve-haired witch to reach for her cup. Jasminka shook her head and stood up to retrieve a plastic bag in the event that there’s more than one person throwing up tonight. 

Sucy peered at the cup once before letting out a low sigh. “He’s from my hometown,” she muttered.

“What?!” Akko, Lotte, Amanda, Hannah, and Barbara exclaimed simultaneously. 

“No way!” Akko shouted, causing Sucy to flinch and shove her face away.

“Eghh…” Sucy’s nose scrunched and her eyes squinted at them. “Why are you all so surprised?” she grumbled.

“It-it’s just that you’ve… uhm.. you’ve never said anything,” said Lotte.

“Am I supposed to tell you everything?” Sucy replied in a monotonous voice. She looked a little bit offended, no, pissed off.

“No! Go on, go on!” Akko gaped at her shortly before a big, toothy grin appeared on his face. “What’s he like? Is he cute? What’s his name? Are you two dating—“

“Akko!” Diana interrupted, “Let Miss Manbavaran speak.”

“Don’t tell me what to do!” Akko frowned and stuck her tongue out at her.

“Yeah, don’t tell her what to do!” Amanda chimed in.

“Shut up already,” Sucy groaned and rubbed her temples. “He’s from the Philippines, like I am… also, his face is okay. He’s very… kind and he smiles a lot.”

“That’s like the complete opposite of you,” Amanda commented.

“Shut up, Amanda!” Akko grabbed a pillow from beside her, one of the ones that Sucy had used to make a nest, and chucked it across the room. Amanda caught it with a laugh and quickly apologized.

“Do you have a picture?” Barbara asked eagerly.

“I do, but no way in burning hell am I going to show _you_ ,” she spat almost angrily.

“What’s his name?” Lotte cautiously asked.

“Jomari. And Akko,” Sucy stared down at the floor and frowned, “he’s already dating another girl. The three of us… grew up together.”

“Awee,” Akko whined, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe he’ll come around?”

“Ugh, stop with your pity. It’s disgusting.” Sucy shook Akko off and looked off to the side. After a few seconds of silence, she grunted, “She’s his soulmate, so that’s not going to happen. It doesn’t matter though—I’m over it.”

“Ah…” Akko stared at her with sadness in her eyes. That sounded terrible. Falling in love with someone who’s already found their soulmate. “But--”

“Lotte. What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done?” Sucy snickered, a small smirk working its way onto her face. It seemed that she wasn’t looking to dwell on the subject of her crush for very long. Fair enough. Akko wouldn’t want to talk about it either. 

Then, a thought entered Akko’s head. _Had anyone here found their soulmate yet?_ Immediately, her eyes flew to her left, where Diana was seated. If anyone here were to, it would probably be Diana. After all, Akko had never seen her soul stain and she assumed that Diana probably had the resources to find her soulmate. 

Akko stifled a giggle by biting down hard on her inner cheek. She imagined some American S.W.A.T. team jumping out of a moving helicopter with parachutes. They’d scatter on the ground and bust down doors with their feet. Then, they’d run into fancy rich people houses with their guns and badass helmets and collect all the handsome guys for Diana to test. She made a mental note to ask Amanda if she’s ever seen a S.W.A.T. team in real life. _She probably has_. _Americans are fucking wild_.

“What is this— _truth_ or _dare_? No! It’s _dare_ or _drink_ !” As if on cue, Amanda began shouting angrily. She took the half-full bottle of concoction and violently shook it around once more. “If you don’t make a dare, I’ll personally shove the rest of this down your throat!” she laughed, the threat a lot lighter than it sounded. _Yeah. Americans are totally fucking wild_.

“Fine.” Sucy let out a long, exasperated groan. She looked about ready to strangle Amanda, who smiled smugly back at her. A few seconds later, Sucy said, “Lotte, make your spirits help me collect some ingredients.”

“I believe I had dared you not to brew any potions for a month.” Diana narrowed her eyes at Sucy. The two became locked in the ultimate stare-down of the century. Akko was debating who to place her bets on. Between Sucy’s intimidating aura and emotionless expression and Diana's icy, judgemental gaze, she wasn’t sure who would win. _Maybe—_

“Collecting ingredients isn’t the same thing as brewing. But if you want to fight me, I’m ready to go,” Sucy growled in a low voice, breaking Akko from her thoughts.

Akko smiled out of sheer awkwardness, glancing between the two frantically. She was currently seated right in between them. On one side, a terrifyingly calm Diana was facing off against a pissed off Sucy on the other. Sucy has struck first like a python after its prey. Would Diana fight ba—

“Fair enough. You’ve made your point.” Diana nodded a thanks to Hannah as she refilled her cup of tea for her. 

And Diana Cavendish backs down from the fight. She chooses not to attack Sucy Manbavaran back, instead going for the ‘cool, calm, and mature’ approach. Looks like Animal Fight Night’s not tonight. Akko mentally concluded her commentary as Lotte spoke up.

“I’ll ask them tomorrow,” she sighed. “When do you need them?”

“As soon as possible,” Sucy quickly replied.

“Okay… I’ll see what I can do.” Lotte pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose with a finger. That’s when a small, devious smile found its way onto her face. Akko‘s eyebrows rose; she didn’t think that Lotte could pull anything mean off so she was extremely curious. “Amanda, I dare you to... go without swearing for a week starting now.”

 _Well… at least she tried._ Akko was thinking of at least a hundred million good dares for Amanda. After all, Amanda messed with Akko enough to warrant a good prank, right? At the moment, she was super jealous of Lotte for getting to dare Amanda and super disappointed in what the dare was. But Akko didn’t let it get her down for too long. _Someone_ had to call on her next! She just hoped that it wasn’t Amanda.

“‘S way too fuckin’ easy.”

Sucy let out a loud cackle. “Wow, you couldn’t even last a minute.” She wiped a tear from her eye and cleared her throat. “Does this mean that you have to drink up?”

“Fuck off, Sucy.” Amanda glared.

“Ahh! Man, I could really kill for omurice* right about now!” Akko said loudly, attempting to ease the tensions. It was like the three teams couldn’t hang out for fifteen minutes without someone getting offended. 

“Seriously though, Lotte,” Amanda shook her head, “That’s the best you can do? Lemme show you a real dare.”

 _Uh oh_. A chill spread through Akko’s body and she gulped, screaming silently in terror as Amanda looked right at her. She felt her heart sink as a big, mischievous smirk spread across her face. Akko mentally prepared herself to streak through the halls of Luna Nova, chug the rest of the concoction, climb onto the roof in just her underwear, or even worse—say that her number one idol, Shiny Chariot, is a disappointment and a failure of a witch.

“Akko, ‘dare you to kiss the sexiest person in the room,” Amanda said. 

“Eh…?” Akko’s entire face was redder than a tomato. She fidgeted in the spot where she was sitting.

“You heard me,” laughed Amanda. Akko wanted to smack that devious look off her face. Weren’t they friends? Akko thought they were cool. Weren’t they cool? How could she do this? “Sexiest person in the room, who is it?”

Akko hated the way her eyes flickered to her left. She hated the way that her eyes shifted in the awkward silence. Also, she especially hated the fact that Diana Cavendish was the first thing she looked at. Sure, she hated Shiny Chariot—no, Akko was not going to forget about that anytime soon—and sure, she probably hated her, but Diana was undeniably gorgeous. Akko would be lying if she said that she didn’t study the blonde witch’s face when she wasn’t looking. 

But the question was: is Diana sexy? Akko thought about it, tearing her eyes away from the girl. She was pretty, but sexy? Akko closed her eyes and tried to imagine Diana in a bathing suit—a white bikini to be specific. 

_Shit_ , Akko thought, _Diana’s hotter than a bag of Amanda’s flamin’ hot puff cracker thingies._

“Clock’s ticking, Akko. If you don’t decide soon, you’re gonna have to throw it down the hatch!” Amanda tapped her wrist for emphasis, even though she wasn’t even wearing a watch.

Okay, so Diana is hands-down the sexiest person in the room. Basically, she’s perfect. Everyone was probably thinking the exact same thing. It’d be really easy to just turn and lock lips with Diana if not for the fact that she really wasn’t trying to pick a fight. Akko and Diana had been on neutral grounds for the past couple of days, Akko would have to be insane to ruin that, right? 

Thus, Akko decided to find someone else. Sucy has a crush on some dude back home and Lotte’s one of her best friends, so those two were a no-go. Barbara and Hannah were complete bitches to her; Akko didn’t even feel comfortable being in the same room as them. Jasminka and Constanze weren’t playing, so it would be kind of mean to drag them into the game. That left… Amanda. 

Akko smirked when her eyes fell on the American. This was absolutely perfect. If Amanda was going to screw with her, she was going to screw her right back. 

She could see Amanda’s smile disappear and her cheeks blush as Akko stood up and walked across the room towards her. Akko moved, quickly closing the gap between them. Roughly, she slapped Amanda’s cheeks with both hands, one at a time, and leaned in. Their lips pressed together for a solid five seconds before Akko broke the kiss and sat back, a triumph taking over her body. A smug smile made its way onto Akko’s face.

Everyone had expected to see Amanda’s flustered and shocked expression. She sat there, wide-eyed and speechless. However, no one had expected to see Amanda’s soul stain steadily change from pitch-black to an extravagant mixture of ruby-red, pastel yellow, mint-green, and white. 

“W-what..?” Amanda stammered, rubbing the back of her neck awkwardly. She was bright red, redder than Akko had been when the dare was first given. It was probably the first time Akko had seen Amanda this embarrassed. “I, uh, knew I was hot but… wow…”

Nobody spoke a word. The other girls simply ogled her in disbelief. Swiftly, Jasminka fumbled through a dresser drawer and pulled out a hand-mirror. Amanda blinked before taking it and bringing it up to her face. 

“I’m your soulmate?!” Akko shouted, voice cracking. Amanda nodded slowly, reaching out to touch Akko’s face with the side of her hand. Immediately, it started to change color. 

“Holy shit.”

“I’m not feeling well, I think I’ll go back to the room.” Hannah abruptly shot to her feet and hurried towards the door.

“Are you going to throw up?” Barbara asked worriedly.

“Shall I accompany you so that you won’t be reprimanded if caught? It’s far after curfew,” Diana offered.

“I’m fine. Thanks.” With that, Hannah was gone, leaving Akko and Amanda to stare at each other. Akko was completely bewildered. This was definitely **not** the first time that she had ever touched Amanda. How and why on earth could the soul stain on Amanda’s face possibly react?

“Diana—“ Akko promptly looked to her for answers. The blonde was evidently fascinated to see a real soul stain interaction yet somehow she appeared to be uninterested at the same time. Akko pursed her lips. Maybe she should give Diana some time to think; surely she’d come up with a logical explanation. 

“Akko.” Amanda’s voice caught the said girl’s attention. When Akko turned, Amanda’s eyes were brimming with tears. 

“Huh?” She smiled stiffly. A million questions popped into her head, but she figured that it might be best to stay quiet for now. Akko wasn’t sure if Diana was going to snap at her and she was also pretty unsure if Amanda was going to cry or not.

“We’re soulmates,” she whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading this chapter!
> 
> *Omurice = a Japanese dish made with, of course, omelet and rice!
> 
> I hope my Diakko and Hamanda lovers don’t drop this fic because the story isn’t gonna end here ;((
> 
> Man... better search for those hints now! What the hell happened?!  
> After the next chapter, we’ll enter another time skip hmm.. though don’t worry! This one won’t introduce any more complex holes in the story.
> 
> Anyone figure out where I was going with this? Throw a theory at me if you’ve got one! 
> 
> Thanks again for reading!!


	7. Jealous, much?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah’s feelings for Amanda rise to the surface while Akko’s get all jumbled up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again, everyone! 
> 
> I’ve begun to upload some more LWA fanart on my tumblr ;> check out Amanda’s soul stain here:  
> https://koumagda.tumblr.com/post/187216507399/amanda-and-her-soul-stain-from-my-soulmate-au
> 
> Only a week left to go until my updates will probably stop ;(( not to worry, I’ll be back in a year and I’m writing as quickly as I can without sacrificing the quality! 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy this chapter, it’s a cool down from all the chaos!

In case the tumblr image isn’t showing up or you don’t feel like clicking ;)

* * *

Hannah opened the refrigerator and pulled out a carton of eggs. While she was at it, she grabbed the butter and a wooden spoon. She found herself walking over to the stove and twisting a knob; the burner hissed before producing a small flame.

A slab of butter was spread over a pan, which Hannah had pulled from a cupboard and placed on the metal grate. She plucked two eggs out of the carton and cracked them. They sizzled upon hitting the hot pan while she turned to grab the spoon.

Hannah found herself looking outside the window next to the stove as the eggs cooked. Absentmindedly, she stirred the egg whites and yolks into a pale yellow substance within the pan. Birds chirped from outside while the morning sun took its time rising. Everything was… peaceful.

The kitchen Hannah was cooking in was small, but not terrible. It was cozy and warm, providing just enough space to get the job done. She loosened the edges around the egg before flipping it. Omelets weren’t really Hannah’s thing… which must mean that she was cooking for someone else.

Her eyes remain locked on the egg as she tried to remember who it was for. Hannah’s thoughts were cut short when strong yet gentle arms wrapped around her waist. Quickly, she shut off the burner and whirled around.

“Mornin’ babe,” Amanda yawned then proceeded, “I wish you hadn’t made me wake up alone.”

The pout on Amanda’s drowsy face made her heart melt, causing Hannah to giggle and reach up to rub the sleep out of the taller girl’s eye with her thumb. She was promptly rewarded with a chaste kiss on the lips.

Hannah could feel Amanda smile against her and take her hand. With their fingers entwined, Hannah was pulled away from the half-cooked omelet and led to a black leather couch in a modern living room. She gasped as Amanda yanked her onto her lap, world momentarily spinning.

Laughter escaped the both of them and for a while, they simply stared into each other’s eyes. Hannah ran her fingers through Amanda’s hair, smoothing out her bedhead. In response to that, Amanda leaned forward and pressed her forehead up against hers.

“I think I wanna stay like this forever,” Amanda whispered, caressing Hannah’s cheek tenderly.

“Mm…” She nodded slightly, unable to find the urge to speak. Even if she did, she didn’t think that there would be many words to say. Hannah moved to straddle Amanda and look her in the eye once more. She just couldn’t get enough of that handsome but gorgeous face.

“Marrying you… I just… I can hardly believe it, y’know?” Amanda murmured, continuing to hold her in such an affectionate way. Hannah could see the love in her eyes as she spoke, “I’m happy, are you?”

Hannah nodded furiously, tears pricking her eyes. She bit her lip and tried to hold them back, but the sight of Amanda’s soft expression prevented that. Hot tears slipped down her cheeks only to be kissed away by Amanda.

“Good. I wanna let you know that you’re the most special, adorable, precious person in my life… I’d give you the entire world and more if I could.” Amanda’s soul stain was stunningly vibrant in the morning light. The handprint’s mint green, ruby red, pastel yellow, and white colors blended together perfectly on the canvas that was her cheek. Hannah admired how the light made it sparkle. “I still can’t believe that we’re soulmates. ‘Never thought that I’d ever find mine. I’m so glad it was you all along.”

The two of them shared a kiss, this one much longer than the last. Amanda was the one to break it, pulling away and gazing at Hannah in a way that made her feel wanted. Hannah’s heart twisted and ached in her chest as she gazed back at Amanda longingly. She was right here in front of her, but she wanted to be so much closer.

Hannah pressed her body flush against Amanda and threw her arms around her neck. Her tears still threatened to fall, but she blinked them away the best she could. Happiness. That’s what she felt. She didn’t think she’d ever be able to find it so close by. Hannah’s breath hitched when Amanda leaned impossibly closer to whisper in her ear.

“I love you, Akko.”

* * *

Hannah’s heart squeezed painfully from within her chest. Her entire body felt cold and tingly; it wasn’t a pleasant thing to wake up to. She pried her swollen eyes open, blinking away the gritty sleep in them. Unable to work up the strength to move, she stared blankly at the wall. Meanwhile, her heart sank slowly to her stomach, stabbed with pain each time she recalled bits and pieces of the dream.

The life with Amanda that wasn’t hers.

_I love you, Akko. I love you, Akko. I love you, Akko._

The words repeated in her head… in Amanda’s voice. Hannah licked her lips, wanting to cry but finding that she couldn’t; she felt numb.

_I love you… Hannah._

Hannah exhaled and shut her eyes tightly. She was never going to hear those words from Amanda’s mouth. But that wasn’t the worst part—no, the worst part was that she had to go to class and see them together on Monday. Something told her that it was going to be a very long day.

* * *

“Akko, come sit with me!” Amanda shouted, waving her arms in the air. From across the cafeteria, Akko, Lotte, and Sucy took notice. The red team exchanged looks before making their way over to join the green team.

The blue team was sitting at a nearby table, minding their own business. They thought it would be best to maintain a little distance from the others after the tension and events of the previous day. Diana especially didn’t want to be with them, considering her constant disputes with Amanda.

“How was your day?” Amanda asked. “You look tired—do you wanna come hang in our room later?”

“Oh uh, I’m fine I guess… And maybe, I was going to maybe practice flying…” Akko replied slowly. She appeared a little bit uncomfortable and it seemed that everyone else was too. In just a few hours of the day, the whole school was talking about Akko and Amanda.

There were mixed responses within the chatter. Some were weirded out that two soulmates could be girls, others were overjoyed and happy to see a “LGBT+ power couple”. Many were actually disappointed or downright pissed, seeing as Amanda had a group of fans big enough to be considered a fan club. It seemed ridiculous if you ignored the fact that Amanda had quite the reputation for talking up girls and then leaving them hanging; Lotte was still wary of Amanda being with Akko.

“Oh…” The American was rejected momentarily before an idea popped in her head. “I could help you out? After all, I’m like the best at Luna Nova!” she suggested with a mouthful of biscuit.

“Uhm…” Akko lowered her spoon and stared at her mashed potatoes. After a few moments, she glanced up at Amanda. She pursed her lips before mumbling, “Look Amanda, I’m really, really, super tired. And… everything happened so quickly that I just sorta need some time to think, okay?”

Lotte peered at her with an immense amount of concern in her eyes. Next to her, Sucy was frantically flipping through a book, though the expression on her face was as uncaring and stony as ever. Jasminka and Constanze kept their heads down, attempting to mind their own business. 

“...Why do you sound like you hate being my soulmate?” Amanda’s eyebrows knitted together. She put the uneaten half of her biscuit down and turned to face Akko. “It’s kinda messin’ with my head. You know I’ve always had a crush on you, right?”

“I…” Akko flinched slightly and put her spoon down. She pinched the bridge of her nose and took a deep breath before mumbling,”I-I didn’t know that… I have so many questions…”

“Questions? Like what?” Amanda inquired.

“Maybe about the fact that your soul stain reacted to a touch that definitely wasn’t your first,” Lotte spat. Upon hearing herself, she covered her mouth and flashed a guilt-filled look towards Amanda, who looked equally shocked. “I’m so sorry—I didn’t mean for it to come out like that..”

“It’s fine!” Amanda forced a laugh and rubbed the back of her neck. “I know that’s kinda weird. I was thinking that maybe it was just delayed?”

“Perhaps we should ask a teacher about it?” Jasminka spoke up.

“Ursula-sensei might know something!” Akko perked up, once dull and tired eyes shimmering.

“‘Wonder if she’s found her soulmate,” Amanda hummed. She pondered the thought before pausing and looking at Akko. “Hey.”

“What?” Akko returned her look. 

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“I already told you,” Akko groaned, “I wanna practice on my own.”

“No, not that—I got that. I mean you don’t sound super excited to be my soulmate…” Amanda said, trying to hide the sadness in her voice. Immediately, a wave of guilt passed over Akko.

“I told you, I don’t really believe in soulmates… Well, I guess I _didn’t_ now.” Akko grimaced and reached up to touch the soul stain on her own face. She still couldn’t believe that the black she’d grown so used to seeing in the mirror every morning was now colorful. “I always thought they were a waste of time because I thought I’d never find mine…”

“Well you did.” Amanda gave her a small smile.

Sucy, who had been searching through her book the entire time, finally stopped on a page. She looked up between the two and snorted before shaking her head. Wordlessly, she scooped some of her lunch into her mouth before packing everything up and leaving.

“We should probably get going too.” Lotte stood up to throw away her trash. She offered to take Akko’s before walking away.

“See you later, Amanda.” Akko smiled weakly at the taller girl. To this, Amanda’s cheeks turned pink and she had to take a moment to compose herself. 

Amanda put her hand on hers and pressed a kiss to her temple. At the blue team’s table, Hannah England stabbed a fork into her salad with enough force to shake the whole table. Diana looked unamused and Barbara inquired what was wrong.

“Sheesh, what’s her deal?” Amanda noticed, subconsciously moving to wrap her arms around Akko. 

“Dunno.” Akko simply shrugged. She could’ve sworn that Hannah was looking in their direction. 

Hannah was, in fact, staring at them. However, when Akko caught her, she quickly averted her eyes. The auburn-haired girl abruptly stood up and stormed off. Diana looked at Barbara confusedly and received a shrug in response. Barbara waved goodbye at Diana before plucking up her and Hannah’s lunch trays. She then rushed out of the cafeteria in the direction of Hannah.

Akko quirked an eyebrow as all this was happening. Something big must’ve happened for her school bully to be so out of it. Normally, when Hannah had some issue, she took out her anger on Akko—Lotte had told her that when Akko had asked why Hannah and Barbara hated her so much. 

“Maybe she’s jealous ‘cause she doesn’t have a soulmate,” Amanda laughed. She affectionately rubbed her thumb up against the side of Akko’s face. Akko winced at the rough touch.

“Everyone has a soulmate, it’s simply a matter of whether or not they’ve met them,” Diana said as she walked by. “Congratulations on meeting yours. You of all people should know how difficult of a task that is; do not place yourself above others for not finding theirs yet. Some people have better things to do than spend every waking hour searching for someone who could very well be on the other side of the earth. Such a waste of time… Speaking of which, classes will begin soon. I’ll be off.” Diana flipped her hair and exited the cafeteria. 

Akko stared after her, eyes widening a little. Her natural instincts told her to stand up and scream after Diana that she was wrong, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Beside her, Amanda with seething.

“‘Fucking blue team’s a mess today. Who do they think they are?” Amanda hissed through grit teeth. She let go of Akko to crack her knuckles.

“Who knows…” Akko said quietly, slipping out of her seat. “I’m going to go. See ya, Amanda.”

“I’ll text you!” Amanda grinned and winked at Akko. The Japanese girl forced a smile, trying not to look too awkward, and walked away. Being soulmates with one of your best friends was going to… totally take some getting used to. Akko wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this. 

She couldn’t wait for the day to be over. Tonight, she was going to finally figure out how to fly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading!!  
> To everyone who commented, you’re honestly the best! I get so excited to hear that people are so invested in this fic.
> 
> Poor Akko, she’s so confused.
> 
> The truth has been revealed!  
> Amanda didn’t have feelings for Hannah, she had feelings for Akko. If you read back, you can kinda see it, I hope.  
> Also did anyone catch the omelet part? I briefly hinted at it in the previous chapter so did anyone figure out that Hannah was dreaming in Akko’s perspective before the end of the scene?? I’m curious to know!!
> 
> I always wanted to write a love triangle in which like... you know how in every fanfic/book/show/other media, people easily figure out who characters have crushes on? Well I always thought that was TOO easy. Because in real life, it can be extremely difficult to tell. Not everyone is so open about their feelings.  
> Which is why I tried disguising Amanda’s feelings for Akko as a crush on Hannah. I mean seriously, who in their right mind would tell their crush that they have a crush on someone? 
> 
> Anyways, did anyone suspect it? Did I do a good job or was it kinda obvious? Because I’m lowkey super proud of this  
> plot twist—
> 
> Thanks again for your amazing theories, compliments, and support!!


	8. Curfew

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko gets caught practicing her flying after curfew. Amanda and Hannah are partnered up for an assignment together, much to both of their dismay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m not going to participate in diakko week because my first flight is on Friday and I have preparations to make! But... I figured I’d update since this fic is a soulmate AU and the first day just happens to be soulmate themed! How convenient ;)))
> 
> Chapter 9 is in process! I got some... writers block or whatever. I made a mistake and now I gotta figure out how to work out the story smoothly. Ughhh
> 
> there’s really no way I can go about this without someone looking worse than the other. Akko’s insensitivity towards Amanda’s feelings is pretty crappy and Amanda’s ignorance/obliviousness towards Akko’s feelings is also pretty crappy. Try not to beat up my kids too much ;(( because the solution I came up with involves one of them doing something 
> 
> Anyways enjoy Diakko week and enjoy DTM week because this might be the last time I’m ever this active ;(( until next year

Almost there. Almost there! Akko could feel it in her bones. Tonight was the night she’d figure out how to fly. For the past two hours she’d been shouting ‘Tia Freyre’ and jumping around. 

Akko, now on her ninety-seventh attempt, was confident that this time was _the_ time. However, curfew had just passed so she had to be very careful. Screw it. If anyone caught her, she could just fly away from them, right?

Akko closed her eyes, feeling the cool evening breeze on her face. She inhaled sharply and exhaled slowly before tightening her grip on the wooden handle. Now.

“Tiaaaaaa Frey—!” 

“Akko!”

Uh oh. The brunette was already in mid-jump when the oh-so familiar voice rang through the air. She panicked and while scrambling to land on her feet, fell backwards. 

“Ga _ah_ !” Akko cried out as she hit the ground with a heavy _thud_. Falling on grass was always better than pavement, but it still hurt a lot. “Ouch,” she groaned, face scrunching up in pain.

“By the nine, are you alright?” The voice, which Akko recognized to be Diana’s, was filled with concern. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Akko grumbled. When her eyes opened, she saw that stupidly perfect Cavendish standing over her. Locks of wavy blonde and tea-green hair cascaded past her face, hanging right above Akko. Beautiful. She was so astoundingly beautiful that some part of Akko’s stubborn side was annoyed by it.

As Akko was standing up, she ignored the hand offered to her. Diana frowned and stepped backwards.

Diana cleared her throat before speaking. Her eyes narrowed and she regained her famous unemotional composure. “You’re currently breaking curfew. I suggest returning to your room before I am forced to report to the headmistress.”

“You mean you’re just gonna let me go?” Akko’s eyes widened. “You’re not gonna tell on me?”

“Seeing as you were diligently… trying to practice flying, I believe that I can let you go this one time,” she replied. Diana’s dainty hands adjusted her sash as she turned to walk in the other direction. She stopped for a moment and added, “Head back now, Akko. Do not let me catch you out past curfew again.”

“Right… okay…” Akko sighed, bending down to pick up her broomstick. Well, maybe tonight wasn’t the night… but perhaps tomorrow night will be! She’ll just have to be extra careful not to run into Diana agai—

“Akko.”

“Y-yes?! I swear, Diana, I totally wasn’t gonna secretly do it again!” The Japanese Witch stiffened at the sound of the other girl’s voice. She thought that Diana would’ve been long gone by now. Her ruby-red eyes glanced upwards to find Diana a few yards in front of her. 

She stood with her back facing Akko, not moving a muscle. The moonlight shone down, making her hair sparkle and seemingly glow in the dim evening lighting. Man, her rival really was a work of art. 

“I suppose that I never properly said it, but congratulations on finding your soulmate,” Diana said.

“Huh? You said that earlier today though? In the cafeteria, remember?” Akko cocked an eyebrow.

“I addressed Miss O’Ne—Amanda,” Diana corrected herself, “and it was in a rather bitter manner.”

“Oh… hey, that reminds me,” Akko started. She propped her broom up against a nearby wall before inching a little bit closer to Diana. Now, she was within a few feet of the heiress. Slowly, she finished her sentence, “you said something earlier… you know? About soulmates being a waste of time and stuff like searching for them is super… what’s the word..? Lots of work? No…”

“Tedious,” Diana stated.

“Yeah! Tedious! Searching for soulmates is rather tedious!” Akko exclaimed. She cautiously crept on her tippy-toes around Diana until she was standing face-to-face with her. While Akko was awkwardly smiling, Diana had a slightly conflicted look on her face. “What’s wrong?”

“Akko, I apologize if I made you feel bad. Soulmates are a lovely thing. You and Amanda are very lucky to have found each other. There’s nothing wrong with soulmates, I simply—“

“What? No!” Akko cut her off. “That’s not what I… I just…”

“What?” Diana looked at her with a slightly startled expression on her face.

“Sorry, it’s just that… I agree with you,” Akko mumbled. 

“Do you?” Diana appeared confused, but she quickly shifted back into concentration. “Well, fortunately for you, you don’t have to worry about such things. You’ve found your soulmate.”

“That’s the thing, Diana. I don’t think I really found my soulmate.” Shaking her head back and forth, Akko tried to explain the weird things she was feeling. 

“What do you mean? Amanda’s soul stain became colorful when you touched her and yours became colorful when she touched you,” Diana responded, folding her arms. Akko noticed that she was shivering slightly.

“Well… can we maybe talk inside? I’m cold.” She rubbed the sides of her arms furiously for emphasis. 

“...As you wish.” Diana began walking past Akko towards the door to the courtyard leading to the hallways.

Quickly, Akko went to her broom. She snatched it up and sprinted after Diana. Now that she knew someone felt the same way as her, she was super eager to talk. 

Sucy was the one that Akko thought would feel iffy on the topic of soulmates. However, it appears that she was wrong considering the fact that Sucy gave up on her love because of the soulmate bond. 

Akko didn’t think that was right. If you love someone, then does it really matter what some black marking on your skin says? Sure, having a colorful blotch on her face was cool, but this morning, Barbara told her that she looked like a clown.

Diana leaned against a wall by a drinking fountain. After telling Akko that they must keep their voices down, she patiently waited for her to continue. Akko took a deep breath, trying to gather up all the thoughts that were messing with her head.

“I know that Amanda’s my soulmate, but she doesn’t _feel_ like my soulmate. I mean, I know that it just happened so suddenly, but I feel so uncomfortable around her now,” Akko grunted into her hands. “I thought we were like best friends and then she ends up being my soulmate and then suddenly she tells me that she’s had a crush on me this whole time?”

Diana remained silent as she processed her words. Meanwhile, Akko was climbing up onto the windowsill next to her. She expected Diana to scold her when they momentarily locked eyes, but to her surprise, Diana just shook her head and went back to staring straight ahead.

“I never expected to find my soulmate. I mean, I should probably learn how to fly first, right?” Akko laughed weakly. She twiddled her thumbs in her lap and said, “But I didn’t think it would be like this. Maybe I could get used to it, but Amanda…”

“From what I’m hearing, it doesn’t sound like you’re very… attracted to your soulmate. That’s normal, it’ll simply take time. Keep in mind that you two only found each other a day ago,” Diana responded slowly and carefully, though she sounded somewhat uncertain. A perplexed look crossed her face.

“No, no, that’s not it. Diana, I just don’t think she’s my soulmate. It’s wrong! Just super wrong!”

“How else would you explain your soul stains?”

“I...I don’t know.” Akko’s face dropped and she bit her lip. Frustrated tears welled up in her eyes. Obviously her point wasn’t getting across to Diana. And she’d finally thought that someone understood. The two of them stayed put in the empty hallway, crickets chirped outside and silence engulfed them.

“I am not too keen on… love,” Diana finally coughed, “however, I think that you should follow your heart. Believe in it and do not fret about your soul stain saying who your soulmate is. I think that you should give Amanda a chance, Akko. But, you shouldn’t feel tied to her if you don’t feel the same.”

“Diana…” Akko blinked, hot tears escaping down her face. She furiously wiped them away on her sleeve. That was exactly what she wanted, no, needed to hear. 

“Y-yes?” Diana’s eyes flickered back and forth between Akko and the wall straight ahead. After a few moments, she settled her gaze on the drinking fountain to her right, attempting to provide even the slightest bit of privacy to the crying girl.

Akko sniffed and wiped her eyes one last time. She hopped off of the windowsill and spun around to face Diana. Her face was red and her eyes were swollen and puffy, but they showed that she had come to a resolve. A big toothy grin crossed her face.

“Okay! I’m gonna try to make this work with Amanda!” She pumped her fists in the air and puffed out her chest.

“That’s great to hear.” Diana let out a breath of relief. Akko wondered if her energetic self was what Diana considered normal. 

“Thanks for the talk, Diana.” Akko’s face softened as she flashed her a genuine smile. 

Diana paused before smiling slightly. “You’re welcome.”

“I’d hug you but I’ve got snot dripping from my nose—“

“Please refrain.”

* * *

“Amanda and Hannah, Avery and Blair, Mary and Chloé, Elfriede and Wangari,” Professor Finnelan read from a list in her hands. 

“Again?!” Amanda exclaimed.

“Miss O’Neill, do you have an issue with your partner?” Their magic linguistics professor frowned and shot her a harsh glare.

Amanda threw her hands up in the air in surrender. Her eyes flickered over to Hannah, who was staring down at her desk. She appeared to be zoned out. “No, ma’am…”

“Good. Now, I want you all to translate the handout with your partner and submit an analysis by Monday.”

“Ugh…” Amanda groaned, throwing her head back. She was planning on hanging out with Akko this weekend. Soulmates should stick together, right? Sure, Hannah was sorta her friend, but for the past couple of days since the sleepover, she’d been cold. Amanda tried to greet her a few times only to receive a quiet ‘hey’ back.

Class was dismissed shortly after the assignment was given. Amanda stood up and stretched. She grabbed her bag, ready to find Hannah and talk about meeting up as soon as possible. The faster they get it done, the sooner she can spend time with Akko.

Amanda looked to where Hannah was sitting. She was gone. Furrowing her eyebrows, she let her eyes flicker around the room. It hadn’t even been a minute since class had ended and Hannah was already gone. Where the hell could she have gone off to? 

It was kind of funny. Not even a week ago, Akko was the one rushing out of class. Hannah had gotten on her for it and probably would’ve chewed Akko to pieces had Amanda not stopped her. Amanda sighed and whipped out her phone.

September 21, 2019

_Amanda O’Neill: library on sunday_

_Amanda O’Neill: ?_

Hannah read the text a moment after it was sent, however she didn’t reply. Amanda snorted and then shoved her phone in her pocket. She rushed out of the classroom to find Akko.

* * *

September 26, 2019

_Amanda O’Neill: where are you_

“I’m here.”

Amanda’s eyes snapped upward to see Hannah take a seat at the chair across from her. She shrugged her bag off of her shoulder and began to pull out a notebook and a folder. From the folder, Hannah took the handout and placed it on the table.

When she was done, the auburn-haired girl plucked a silver mechanical pencil from the pocket of her brand-name backpack. A pair of dull, hazel eyes stared into piercing, mint-green eyes; Amanda thought she seemed detached.

“So… how’s it going?” Amanda asked, giving Hannah her best smile. She tried to think about her time spent with Akko during the week. Man, she’d kill to be flying with her, running laps with her, hell, even studying with her.

“Fine,” said Hannah in a dreary voice. 

“That’s good.” Amanda rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly when she saw that Hannah was still staring at her. It was only when she actually stopped to peer at the reflection in the other witch’s eyes that Amanda realized what she was looking at.

White, pink, green, the colors of her own soul stain were visible; Hannah was looking at it. Somehow, it embarrassed Amanda. However, at the same time, it also filled her with pride. 

This vibrant marking was proof that Akko touched her, proof that her soulmate touched her, found her. Also, it was proof that Amanda O’Neill is taken…

_Wait, were she and Akko even dating?_ Amanda thought. Well, maybe she’d just have to ask her out on a date later. The idea made her feel giddy.

“Admirin’ the stain, huh? It looks good on me, doesn’t it?” Amanda could feel her chest swelling with pride and love. She brought a hand up to brush her fingers over the flashy handprint.

That seemed to snap Hannah out of whatever trance she was in. She sat up a little straighter and looked away. 

“Don’t be embarrassed. You can look, it’s a sign that I’ve found my match,” Amanda laughed.

Hannah said nothing in response. Rather, she just pressed her lips together and pulled the magic linguistics assignment closer with her index finger; it slid across the surface of the table smoothly. 

“Hey,” Amanda narrowed her eyes and put on a serious face, “don’t be bummed out. You’ll find your soulmate too.”

Hannah’s brow knit together ever so slightly, as if she was suddenly concentrating on something. She didn’t say anything. 

“‘You okay, Hannah?” 

Still nothing.

“Look, Hannah, it really isn’t something to worry over. Your soulmate will pop up when you least expect it.” Amanda spoke, feeling like she was a professional when it comes to soulmates considering the fact that she found hers already. She continued, “I mean, hell, I never would’ve expected Akko to be mine. It’s like… a dream come true! I know you don’t really like her, but she’s perfect to me.”

Hannah picked up the handout and brought it close to her face. Amanda was now unable to see what expression she was making. Taking that as a negative response, Amanda frowned and leaned forward.

“Hey, what’s your type?” The American failed to notice how Hannah’s grasp on the sheet of paper stiffened. “I know some guys over at Appleton. I’m gonna introduce you to a couple. What kind of person do ya like, eh?” she asked with a teasing smile on her face. 

Amanda O’Neill would probably never have guessed that all of her smiles, even her obnoxious, cocky smirk, could make Hannah fall apart into a sputtering mess. She did not know that Hannah, who was hiding behind a mere 0.1mm thick wall, was debating whether or not to point at her. She didn’t know that Hannah was biting her bloody inner-lip to fight back the hot tears that formed and burned in her eyes. She especially didn’t know that all Hannah England wanted to say was, ‘ _you_ ’. 

“Let’s get this over with.” Hannah slammed the paper down onto the table with a loud bang, drawing the attention of other students around them, in order to cover up the way her voice cracked into pieces.

“Okay…” Amanda’s eyebrows shot to the top of her head. “Gotcha, I guess…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s a wrap for now! Chapter 9 is... a struggle but on the way.
> 
> Satisfied, my fellow Diakko lovers? In pain, my fellow Hamanda lovers? LMAO
> 
> I absolutely loved this scene... Just Akko and Diana talking after curfew in a quiet hallway. I was gonna draw it but I gotta crank out as many chapters as I can.
> 
> This chapter was kind of a breather and cool down like the last. Dare I call it slowburn? Border line slowburn? Yeah probably like kinda slow burn but not quite?  
> Whatever, the point is now we have some character development <3 
> 
> Thanks for reading,  
> Until next time!!


	9. Diana’s Prince

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko continues to break curfew just to see Diana in private. Diana decides that enough is enough and puts an end to it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone!  
> Last cool-down chapter before our drama begins to pick up again!!
> 
> Diakko lovers, I’ve got your back ;))  
> Hamanda lovers... oh dear, it’ll be sort of a long wait  
> Bear with me <3
> 
> You can probably expect one or two more chapters after this before I go inactive. Though... on the plane, I might find it in me to write a little more. Maybe when I land another chapter will be released. I’m not quite sure!
> 
> Thank you so much for all your kind words and support! I’ll tell you that my ego has gotten so bloated I’m afraid it’ll burst. I adore each and every comment, so please know that your words don’t mean nothing! In fact, I think they help sustain this fic.
> 
> With that, I’ll let you go read chapter 9,

“You’re out past curfew again, Akko,” said Diana. She had been patrolling the halls of Luna Nova when she spotted the brunette sitting on the window sill by the drinking fountain. 

“Hey, Diana!” Akko’s face lit up and she whipped her head to the left to see Diana approaching. 

“Please return to your room before I’m forced to—“

“Report me to the headmistress, yada yada, whatever.”

“Listen to me.” Diana’s eyebrow twitched in her annoyance. She let out an exasperated sigh, folded her arms, and then proceeded to stare Akko down. “I can’t overlook this again.”

“That’s what you’ve been saying everyday for the last two weeks,” Akko laughed, wiping a tear from her eye. Suddenly, her Monday got a million times better after seeing Diana. In fact, every school night, Akko snuck out of the red team’s dorm room to be intentionally caught. 

Talking to Diana during class wasn’t easy, especially with Hannah and Barbara constantly circling her like vultures. Actually, now that Akko thought about it, they were more like her bloodhounds. Akko couldn’t even be in the same room as Diana without getting hounded by Hannah and Barbara, pun intended. 

Thus, Akko stayed out past curfew every day, ready to have talks, both meaningless and existential. Although, it was more Akko talking than it was Diana. Diana simply sat and listened, since she had actually grown to enjoy Akko’s company. She only ever spoke when Akko suddenly bombarded her with questions. 

Not once had Diana ever reported Akko, despite her constant threats to. Their nightly talks typically lasted around ten to twenty minutes, thirty if Akko got lucky. Everytime Akko tried to ask her personal questions, the time shortened. On one occasion, she’d asked Diana what her childhood was like; their talk that night only lasted five minutes. So, Akko learned that she can only really talk about school, soulmates, the world, literally anything else but Diana. 

Though she wanted to know more about Diana and her life, she also wanted to be around her. Maybe one day she’d find out more. Akko wasn’t ready to risk losing time with her yet. She’d only recently became able to refer to Diana as one of her friends. 

“Why must you break the rules?” Diana pinched the bridge of her nose and shook her head.

“Hmm…” Akko thought a moment. She scratched her head in embarrassment and replied, “‘cause I like talking to you?”

“You may talk to me during the day, before curfew,” Diana sighed.

“But your friends are always with you and they make fun of me.” Akko pouted, smile dropping. She glanced up at Diana with hope in her shining red eyes. “Can’t we keep talking? We can just make this our secret!”

“You know that it would be wrong for me to abuse my position. We shouldn’t keep meeting in the hallway anymore.”

“But I really like it here..” Akko turned to gaze at the moon. Its light streamed in through the window and danced on her skin. “I love our talks too.”

“We can meet and talk before curfew if you’re that desperate,” Diana said. She checked the time. It was getting fairly late and she still had to patrol the other side of the school.

“No, Diana _aaa_ ,” Akko whined. After a brief moment of silence, she came up with an idea. She hopped off the windowsill and stood face-to-face with the other witch. “What if we don’t talk in the hallway? What if I find some secret hiding spot for us talk without getting caught?” she asked, enthusiasm rising as she spoke each word.

“Absolutely not. I won’t engage with your antics anymore. Return to your room now, Akko,” Diana replied firmly. There was no way that Akko was going to rope her into continuing to break the rules. Curfew was set for a reason. 

“Oh…” Akko flinched at the distance apparent in her voice. She really, really had hoped they’d gotten closer. _I guess no one can stand in the way of Diana and law enforcement_ , Akko thought. “So… we can’t meet anymore…?”

“No.”

“Oh. Okay,” Akko murmured in a sulky manner. She hung her head, too disappointed to look Diana in the eye. Dragging her feet, she began to head back to her room. 

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

No. No, this couldn’t be the end.

“Diana!” She whirled around on her heels and called out the British girl’s name. Diana, who was all the way down the hallway already and about to turn the corner, stopped and glanced over her shoulder. Once Akko had her attention, she shouted, “I changed my mind. Can we talk in the library before curfew?!”

“Please don’t shout.” Diana winced and hushed her. She frantically looked around to see if anyone was nearby. Finding that there was no one, she relaxed her shoulders with a heavy sigh. “Of course. Just for a little while.”

“Yes!! Yay! Awesome!” Akko exclaimed, prompting Diana to shush her once more. However, the Japanese witch ignored her and proceeded to skip down the hallway in the direction of her dorm room. She couldn’t wait to talk to Diana tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Diana Cavendish herself was watching Akko disappear out of sight. Her gaze remain locked on where the girl had once stood. After several moments, Diana turned and continued on to the other side of the school; the smallest of smiles graced her lips as she walked away.

* * *

“Diana!”

“This is a library, Akko,” the said girl reminded. She watched as Akko burst through the doors, cringing as a loud _bang_ sounded out; the twin wooden doors were mercilessly slammed against the walls. Diana shot her a look of disbelief as Akko came running over to the table where she was seated. “Akko,” Diana warned.

“Relax, Diana!” She grinned.

“You’re being incredibly disruptive to others around you.” Diana frowned.

“But the library’s gonna close soon—no one’s here!” Akko replied, thrusting her arms out so that they were fully extended. To a certain degree, she was right. Only the library assistants remained and they were too busy re-shelving piles of returned books. 

“Still,” Diana closed the textbook she’d been reading, “you’ll develop a bad habit.”

“Yeah, yeah…” Akko mumbled, slumping into the chair not across from Diana, but right next to her. For a few seconds, she twiddled her thumbs in silence, trying to think of what she wanted to say today.

“Have things with Amanda been progressing well?”

“Eh?”

Akko turned her attention away from her thumbs to look at Diana in surprise. She was completely serious. Okay. That was probably a fair question considering the fact that several days ago, Akko tried to ask about whether or not Diana was looking for her soulmate. She was also… the one who came to Diana in the first place to talk about what to do with the Amanda situation.

Really, the last thing Akko wanted to think about was Amanda. It sounded really mean, but she was getting uncomfortable enough around Amanda to the point where she was intentionally avoiding her in between classes. 

Apparently, Amanda is a _huge_ fan of PDA; lots of hugs were given. Now, Akko loves hugs, just not… from Amanda. It felt wrong. The bro-vibes were gone leaving only this incredibly awkward intimate-vibe. But how the hell was Akko, who knew that she herself was normally a very physical person, supposed to shove her best friend off and shout, ‘no’? 

Luckily, Amanda was decent enough to hold back on kissing her. To Akko’s surprise, she hadn’t even tried. Most of the time, it was just hugs, pats on the head, and the occasional hand-holding. Were they even dating? Akko was afraid that Amanda was going to pop the question or something like that soon.

“Things with Amanda… Things with Amanda are okay, I guess,” Akko replied quietly.

“That’s good.” Diana nodded.

“She’s super touchy-feely though. The first thing she does when she sees me is hug me.”

“You’re quite ‘touchy-feely’ as well,” Diana mused. She began to stack her books as the lights in the library dimmed. It seemed that the library assistants were about ready to pack up and leave for the night.

“Okay, but this is different.” Akko pouted, crossing her arms and leaning back in her chair until she was balancing on only two legs. Diana quickly noticed and reached a hand out.

As expected, Akko lost her balance and fell backwards in her chair. That’s when Diana caught her, gently tipping her forward until all four chair legs were back on the ground. “...Thanks.”

“How so?” Diana asked, straightening the pile of notes in front of her.

“We’re going on a date,” Akko groaned.

“What does that have to do with Amanda touching you?” She quirked an eyebrow.

“It doesn’t… it’s just something that’s been bothering me. She texted me last night,” said Akko in a whiny voice. 

“Well…” Diana paused for a moment, not quite sure how to respond. Tired red eyes stared up at her; Akko leaned forward to rest the side of her face on the table. ”Try to enjoy it, I suppose.”

“Ugh.” Akko lifted her head barely and then dropped it back down with a _thunk_. Her forehead hit the table and she just stayed there, frozen in place. 

Next to her, Diana heaved a sigh. “Well, what do you want me to tell you, Akko?”

“I don’t know…” she murmured.

Silence. Diana looked up at the clock and then back at Akko, who still laid her head on the table. Her arms hung from her sides in between her legs. In a way, it reminded her of a gorilla. Diana must have been thinking the exact same thing because an amused look came and went quickly.

“Hey, Diana…”

“Hm?”

Akko turned her head slightly to peer up at her again. She pondered what to say. The last thing she wanted to do was chase Diana away with an overly personal question. 

“Do you… do you think you’ll find your soulmate?” Akko asked quietly. She mentally cringed at the thought of it. As embarrassing as it was, she really didn’t want anyone to come along and steal Diana’s attention away from her. No way. 

Akko imagined a prince from a far away land coming to Luna Nova. He’d probably barge into class and demand that Diana come with him. But knowing Diana, she’d probably glare at him and reprimand him for interrupting her valuable learning time. Akko would bet all her allowance that he would be shooed out of the room by Diana herself.

Of course, Diana’s soulmate was probably perfect. After all, someone as perfect as Diana deserved someone equally as perfect, right? He’d probably be super handsome, but not nearly as beautiful as Diana—that just wasn’t possible. He would also probably be super smart, but of course, not as smart as Diana. 

The brunette’s eyebrows knitted together in deep thought and concentration. Was there anyone worthy of Diana? Maybe that one guy who Barbara and Hannah are obsessed with would match with her. Andy Hamburg? Alex Handyman? Whatever his name was, he was probably someone of Diana’s caliber.

Akko’s face twisted as if she’d just swallowed sour candy. She imagined Diana making out with some super hot guy. That just… that just bothered her. Akko wasn’t sure how she felt about some guy getting to see that side of Diana.

Akko was certain that there was no one who wanted to know more about Diana than her. She frowned at the idea of being in a friendly study session with Diana only to have some guy whisk her away to go on a date after school. Though… maybe that was unfair to say considering the fact that Akko already had Amanda to hang out with.

Still! Diana was a new and important friend, right? Plus, they were rivals, so Akko should probably remain by her side to figure out her weakness, right?

“Akko.”

“Yes!” Akko was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of Diana’s voice.

“It’s rude to ask a question and then zone out while the response is being given,” Diana said. She shook her head in disapproval.

“Ah—I’m so, so sorry, Diana!! What did you say again?” Akko immediately sat up straighter and looked her in the eye. She put on her most serious face. “I’m listening now, I swear.”

Diana sighed before repeating herself, “I might find my soulmate one day in the future… however, I don’t plan on looking for them.” She looked at Akko out of the corner of her eye and flashed a faint smile. “It’s quite _tedious_ , isn’t it?”

“Ha ha,” Akko laughed sarcastically, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, it is,” she affirmed. “What do you think they’ll be like?”

“I can’t say,” Diana breathed, gathering her stuff together. That’s how Akko knew that their little talk was coming to an end. She looked at the time. Curfew was in just fifteen minutes. Akko hoped that their chat was ending because of that, not because of the question. 

“Hmm…” Akko hummed. She stared at Diana’s profile as she helped pack notebooks into Diana’s bag. 

“I imagine that they’d be… friendly. I would personally hope that they’d be a hard worker and capable of keeping up with me,” said Diana. When her things were completely put away, she turned to Akko. “But who knows what they’re really like? There’s always the possibility that I may never find them.”

“Right…” Akko grumbled. She didn’t like the idea of Diana ending up with some scum who treated her badly. She also didn’t like the idea of Diana being alone forever and never finding someone. Sure, soulmates didn’t guarantee a life partner, but they were supposed to lead you to someone who you’d click well with.

Now that she thought about it, Amanda was supposed to be her perfect match… They were both athletic, pretty physical affection-wise, really outgoing, and kinda stupid. Akko frowned. 

There were many things that she and Amanda had in common and yes, they certainly clicked well together, but Akko saw her more as a best friend, a right-hand man, someone who she could count on to copy homework that she may or may not have forgotten about. 

“I have better things to worry about than soulmates though,” Diana spoke, snapping Akko out of her thoughts yet again. She stood up and picked up her bag before sliding her chair in to the table neatly. Akko followed quietly in pursuit.

“I get that.” She stared at her friend for a few moments. Then, the lights to the library shut off. They weren’t left completely in the dark though, the library assistants were waiting at the doors for them. 

One girl was swinging the library key around while tapping her foot impatiently. The other two were chatting and waiting idly, their bodies lit up by the bright light that seeped into the dark room from the hallway. 

“Ready?” Diana was already heading towards the exit when Akko looked back at her.

“Hmm…” Akko was still trying to wrap her mind around so many things. What she was going to do on her date with Amanda, Diana’s future soulmate, how she was going to maintain her friendship with Diana if she does happen to find her soulmate, figuring out Albert Humbug’s actual name. But, Akko decided that she could think about that tomorrow.

Right now, she was going to walk with Diana back to the student dorms! She had some questions about some of today’s lessons that she’d totally forgotten to ask about. 

“Yeah! Let’s go!” Akko gleefully sprinted across the library to catch up.  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no ;( Akko’s got a date with Amanda... It’s gettin’ spicy, but in the flaming hot death makes-you-wanna-die kind of way.
> 
> But at least we got this diakko interaction. Think of it like candy before dinner haha
> 
> And... I swear, most of this chapter was just Akko’s crazy ass thoughts. They’re super gay but unfortunately Akko’s in some sort of denial. “Rival” my ass. But if you think about it, Amanda was her best friend and adding romance kinda ruined it. I personally wrote Akko to sort of be holding back because she doesn’t want to ruin her friendship with Diana... but y’know, gay thoughts are gay thoughts //shrug
> 
> Oh and did I mention that your theories get more and more accurate every time?? I swear, I have to come up with some sort of word other than “close” or “almost” or “kind of”. It’s honestly super fantastic to see, I almost wish I planned for the story to go along with some of your predictions. Point is, they’re really thoughtful and interesting!!
> 
> That’s all I really have to say for now ;u
> 
> Thanks again!


	10. Lies (Part I)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Akko prepares for her date with Amanda while Lotte fusses over her. Sucy lies to Akko. Hannah’s attempts to defend Amanda piss off her friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, welcome back!
> 
> This chapter is a whole load of stuff that rolls by faster than you can blink. I’m actually kind of worried as to whether or not I rushed it...
> 
> Well, I guess you’ll just have to try reading it!  
> Btw, Diana’s backstory reveal is coming up soon!
> 
> Enjoy!!

Weren’t Fridays supposed to be fun? Couldn’t Akko just skip this Friday?

Saturdays would always hold a special place in Akko’s heart. Oh, how she wished it was Saturday. Saturday was Akko’s Friday, only better.

Back at her school in Japan, Fridays were fun but not anything like the ones at Luna Nova. Here, Fridays were the last day of the week. People got both Saturday _and_ Sunday off!

Theoretically, Akko could’ve skipped school on Saturday, but her parents would’ve killed her if they found out. Thus, she’d grown accustomed to attending school six days a week. 

Now, at Luna Nova, Akko became quite fond of ‘Friday fun times’ with her friends. One has to thoroughly celebrate the end of another week, right? Well, at the moment it felt like all that fun was gone.

On a Friday, her best friend apparently became her soulmate. On a Friday, her new soulmate would not stop texting her. And today, on a _Friday,_ she’ll be going on a date with Amanda, her best friend turned soulmate. 

It would be an understatement to say that Akko wasn’t looking forward to this. No, Akko was dreading this date. She hadn’t the slightest clue as to what possessed her to say ‘yes’ to it. 

Akko trudged into the red team’s room. She chucked her bag onto the bed with all her might. Sucy and Lotte followed close behind. Akko didn’t care though; she was too depressed.

Her date with Amanda was in an hour and they were meeting at the ley line. There was some cafe that the American wanted Akko to try. There was nothing that could prepare Akko for how awkward this date would be.

Not only would she have to sit and try to maintain a conversation with someone who’s, like, in love with her, she’d have to ride on the _same_ broom as them. They’d be so physically close, it made Akko sick to think about. 

She loved Amanda, just not like _that_. Diana had convinced her to give a chance or two, but things just weren’t really getting any better. Now, Amanda was actually a really, really good soulmate.

If anything, she never failed to make Akko feel loved. Akko just wasn’t sure if she wanted that love, _her_ love—by the nine, it sounded terrible to even think. She felt like a shitty person.

If only she could figure out how to fly on her own…

Thinking about it wasn’t helping. So, Akko stripped off her navy-blue vest and white button-up shirt. She sloppily tossed them on her bed and went to find a sweatshirt or hoodie. 

“Akko!” Lotte shouted.

Akko stopped rummaging through the dresser drawers and looked at her. Still in only her skirt and bra, she turned to face Lotte. “What?”

“Jeez! Cover yourself up!” The Finnish girl scolded, rushing over to their door and tugging it closed. “You can’t just change in the middle of the room!”

“Why not? We’re all girls.” Akko yawned and waved her off. 

“Amanda’s really rubbing off on you,” Sucy snickered. She scribbled something onto a lime-green sticky note, ripped it from a pad, and slapped it onto a page of a leather journal. Then, she stuffed the journal into a box, which she locked with a key. Sucy then began unloading her school bag onto her bed.

“Hey,” said Akko, her voice carrying a warning tone. That was the last thing that she wanted to hear from anyone. 

“That’s not the point! The door and window curtains are wide open.” Lotte adjusted her glasses and sighed, shaking her head in disbelief. 

“The door’s not open anymore.” Akko rolled her eyes and put on her light gray Luna Nova Magic Academy crewneck sweatshirt. Then, she kicked off her skirt and slipped on a pair of black running shorts. 

“I just closed it,” Lotte huffed. She approached their bookshelf and was about to pick out the latest edition of Night Fall when she noticed Akko’s outfit. “Oh my—Akko!”

“What now?!” Akko groaned, gathering the components of her uniform up and shoving them aside. She’d send them to be washed sometime this weekend. 

“It’s the middle of October! You can’t go into town wearing that!” 

“Why?! What’s wrong with this?” Akko frowned.

“It doesn’t look like you’re wearing pants,” said Sucy, pointing to her exposed thighs. The shorts Akko had on had disappeared beneath her sweatshirt. “And it’s cold today. It’s about 7°C* right now.”

“So?”

“Akko,” Lotte warned, reminding her a little too much of Diana. Akko thought for a moment about what Diana would actually think about this outfit. _Hmm… she’d probably call me inappropriate or something like that_ , the brunette thought.

“Fine,” Akko sighed. She stepped out of the running shorts and put on a pair of ripped skinny jeans. Since she was in middle school, Akko had always wanted to try wearing them, but her mother and father would’ve disapproved. Thus, soon after Akko arrived at Luna Nova, she’d gone out shopping with Lotte and bought a pair.

Highschool was the time to try out new things. _Soulmates too_ , Akko thought to herself. New clothes, new friends, and even a new soulmate, not that she’d ever had one before Amanda. She was lucky to have Lotte as a friend to confide in.

“Good, that’s much better.” As if on cue, Lotte walked over to Akko and scanned her up and down with her eyes. After a few seconds, she smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. Softly, Lotte said, “Have fun and be careful.”

Sullen red eyes flickered upward to meet her gaze. Akko took a moment to process the meaning behind those words. She knew that Lotte was referring to Amanda.

Amanda O’Neill was definitely not one of Lotte’s favorite people. Akko was told that a couple days after the soul stain incident at the sleepover. It was an awkward conversation, but deep down, Akko was reassured to hear it.

Lotte knew Amanda’s history of playing around and teasing girls. She also knew that the tall witch hadn’t been able to date someone for longer than a week, maybe a month, in her life—Amanda herself had casually told them that in the first couple days of school. 

Therefore, Lotte was extremely worried that Akko would get hurt. Akko herself could see the concern in the eyes that stared back at her.

“I’ll be okay,” Akko gently moved Lotte’s hand off of her and stood up, “I promise. Before my soulmate, Amanda is our friend, remember?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘friend’,” Sucy scoffed. Yet again, she was quickly flipping through a massive book and jotting down notes on a larger sticky pad. 

Akko ignored her little comment. She grabbed her wallet from the dresser drawer and shoved it into a small red backpack. After some thought, she threw a water bottle, her phone, and her lucky Shiny Chariot keychain in. While she was zipping up her bag, Akko asked, “By the way, is there some sort of project you’ve been working on?”

Sucy stiffened. The fingers grappling at her book’s pages halted.

“Sucy?” Akko shouldered her backpack on and bent down to tie her shoelaces. She looked up at the mauve-haired girl curiously. 

Silence. Akko didn’t miss the way that Lotte and Sucy exchanged glances. As she finished pulling her right shoelace tight, Akko saw Lotte’s face harden.

“Tell her,” said Lotte.

“It’s not really a good time…” Sucy averted her eyes.

“What? Tell me what?” Akko’s eyebrows furrowed together and she tilted her head in confusion.

“Sucy.” Lotte put her hands on her hips and stared the said girl down from across the room.

“Look, if I tell her now, she’ll just freak out!” Sucy growled.

“Tell me _what_ , guys?!” Akko shouted, feeling totally lost. 

“Sucy, you have to. Do it before something bad happens,” Lotte demanded. She looked fierce, something that Akko hadn’t expected from her. It was almost a little scary. Gentle people are terrifying when they’re mad. 

“Fine—“

“Ready to go, Akko?!” Amanda burst through the door and into the room. Excitement filled her eyes and she somehow became even more overjoyed when Akko came into view. 

“A-Amanda?!” The Japanese Witch exclaimed. “What are you doing here?! I thought we were meeting at the ley line.”

“I know,” she laughed and sheepishly ran a hand through her messy salmon-pink hair, “I just couldn’t help myself. I really wanted to see you. I tried to after astrology but I couldn’t find ya!”

“Oh… haha, well, thanks for picking me up,” Akko replied quietly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sucy let out a breath of relief. Instantly, she snapped her head back towards her and hissed, “Don’t think I forgot about you!”

Sucy frowned and glared back at Akko. She closed the book with a flick of her wrist and crumpled up one of the sticky notes she’d been writing on. 

“What?” Amanda’s mint-green eyes flickered between the two girls. She looked about as confused as Akko, only less angry.

“What should you be telling me, Sucy?” Akko growled. Lotte’s sudden change in demeanor as well as Sucy’s suspicious behavior was raising flags in Akko’s mind. Her friends knew something and it obviously had something to do with her.

“Fine… I’ll tell you,” Sucy stood up and walked over to her potion-brewing station. She turned to look at Akko and effortlessly lied, “I was working on a potion that would enable you to fly.”

“Wha… Wait, what?! Really?” Akko nearly screamed, hopping up and down. She was almost going to run a lap in her excitement when she stopped herself. Akko’s brain abruptly put her joy on hold. There was no way that Sucy would do something so kind and if she did, there was usually a catch. “...why?”

“I got tired of you practicing so late and then barging into the room after curfew.” Sucy shrugged.

“Okay…” Akko eyed her suspiciously. “What did Lotte mean by ‘before something bad happens’, huh?”

“She meant before you fuck up and crack your head open,” she replied, hiding the fact that she was sweating under Lotte’s intense look of disapproval from Akko. “We’ve seen the cuts and bruises on you.”

“Sucy,” Akko sniffed. She took two long strides across the room to her. Akko then threw her arms around her neck and cried, “I didn’t think you cared so much about me! You’re the best!”

“Hgnh—yeah, whatever,” Sucy grunted, not quite sure what to do with her arms. When Sucy saw Lotte set her jaw, she sighed and awkwardly patted Akko’s back.

“Why didn’t you tell me though?” Akko asked. “You were being so distant that I thought we weren’t friends anymore!”

“I…” Sucy cringed at what she was about to say, “It was too embarrassing.”

That only made Akko hug her tighter. It made perfect sense. Sucy wasn’t so open with her affections so doing something for Akko out of the kindness of her heart probably made her super uneasy. A few seconds went by and Sucy began making attempts to shove her off.

“As sweet as this moment is, we should probably go now if we want to make it back by curfew,” Amanda spoke up at last. She smiled at the scene in front of her, suddenly making Akko feel uncomfortable.

“Yeah…” Akko released Sucy, who stumbled as far away as possible from her to catch her breath. Akko brought her hand up to one of her backpack straps, clenching it as she forced herself to follow Amanda out the door. She looked back over her shoulder one last time to see Lotte march towards Sucy. 

Akko grinned. Her friends cared enough about her to try and figure out a flying potion! She really did have the best of friends. 

__

* * *

“Feel a little better, Han?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if you felt a little better,” Barbara said. She and Hannah were walking around downtown after school, visiting shops and checking out new attractions. Four large bags swung back and forth from Barbara’s arms as she lead Hannah and Avery back to the ley line.

“I guess,” Hannah glanced down at the single plastic bag she was carrying, “not really, though.”

“Seriously? Hannah, you’ve been depressed for, like, a whole month. Can you just tell us what’s up already?” Avery groaned, practically dragging two large bags across the ground. She’d gone a little overboard on the shopping today, though not as much as Barbara. 

“Shut up, Avery!” Barbara frowned and elbowed her in the side.

“Ow,” she hissed.

Hannah lagged behind slightly, almost trying to disappear. She peered down into the contents of her bag; an assortment of snacks ranging from chips to candy, all the stuff that she knew Amanda liked. Once more, she had a magic linguistics project to work on with Amanda.

After class, Hannah had worked up the nerve to question Finnelan about the partnering. It turns out that without Diana in the same class—she’d been transferred out due to a slight schedule change—the professor considered Hannah to be the most suitable person to partner Amanda with. Apparently, Finnelan was hoping that Hannah would ‘rub off’ on Amanda.

Since Akko was revealed to be Amanda’s soulmate, Hannah found it increasingly difficult to hold her attention. Thus, when Barbara suggested that they go shopping today, she picked up Amanda’s favorite snacks. Perhaps a reward would keep her from looking at her phone.

Hannah let out a sigh. Akko was Amanda’s soulmate, it wasn’t a surprise that Amanda wanted to shower her with attention. She felt a twinge of jealousy and instantly hated herself for it. Whatever. _Get over yourself_ , Hannah thought. 

“Oh my _god_.”

“What?” Hannah didn’t notice that Barbara and Avery had stopped in front of her. She bumped into Barbara and that’s when Avery grabbed her and shoved her down. “What the hell?!”

“Shh!” Barbara hushed her with wide eyes. 

“Why?” Hannah was completely confused as to why the three of them were hiding behind a stone cat statue. She allowed her own hazel eyes to stray from Barbara and wander around. 

They were currently on the other side of a statue, which was sitting right outside of a… cat cafe? Since when did this town have a cat caf—oh, it was new. The brightly colored flyer taped to a nearby window read ‘now open!’ in big black cursive letters.

“Look!” Avery whispered, pointing to a table several yards away. Hannah followed the finger to where two people sat. Akko and… Amanda. Hannah paled and felt her gut twist.

“Ew! Do you think they’re on a date?” Barbara inquired in a soft voice.

“Two girls? No way!” Avery’s face contorted in disgust.

“But they’re soulmates, aren’t they? That makes them lesbians,” Barbara snickered. She inched closer to Avery and motioned at Amanda. “I can’t say I’m surprised though. No guy would ever like Akko and Amanda’s like the walking definition of gay.”

“That’s so gross. Hasn’t she been super fucking annoying lately?”

“Yeah, those two won’t stop with their filthy PDA. Though, it looks to me like Akko doesn’t like it,” Barbara replied to Avery.

“God. Does Amanda know that her soulmate hates her?” laughed Avery. “She acts so high and mighty. What’s wrong with her? Shall we get a pic to put in the school news?” She reached into the pocket of her skirt for her phone. “Wangari’s going to _love_ this.”

Hannah watched as her friend opened the camera app and held it up above the statue. She watched it focus on Amanda, who was holding a small kitten up to Akko’s face. Akko reached out to pet the small animal only to have Amanda surprise her with a kiss on the cheek.

Hazel eyes watched Avery’s thumb fly towards the large white shutter button on the screen. Without thinking, Hannah found herself slapping the phone out of her hands. It fell to the sidewalk pavement below with a loud cracking sound.

“What the fuck, Hannah?!” Avery screamed, standing up. Beside her, Barbara gaped at them with her jaw dropped in shock.

“There’s nothing wrong with her. That’s just love. People get… all weird when they like someone a lot,” Hannah stated slowly, standing up to look Avery in the eye. However, confidence began to falter when she saw Amanda and Akko staring at them in a mixture of confusion and surprise. 

“My phone!” Avery seethed, carefully picking it up. The whole screen had somehow burst. Tiny white cracks branched off of even bigger, uglier cracks. Avery’s phone was fissured and split diagonally by two thick white lines.

“I’m sorry…” Suddenly, Hannah lost all the courage that she’d worked up just seconds ago. She shrunk down under her friend’s glare. Barbara, though her best friend, was too speechless to come to her defense. “I’ll buy you a new one. Right now.”

“Damn it, Hannah,” Avery’s glare somehow got harsher than it was before, “I don’t care about that! Why don’t you just tell us what the hell is up with you?”

“I…”

Avery held up her broken phone in front of Hannah’s face. She squinted at her and said, “You owe us an explanation now.”

“I just… I don’t think we should be publicizing their relationship,” Hannah murmured slowly.

“Why not? It’ll put Amanda in her place to feel some shame.” Barbara rolled her eyes while Avery just continued to stare, clearly not satisfied with her response.

“Barb, Diana would be so disappointed if we did something like that,” Hannah tried. To her luck, Barbara’s face slowly became uneasy as her words sunk in. Diana would surely never look at them as friends again if they pulled a dirty move like this. Sure, she’d let them get away with harassing Akko, but this just felt different and wrong. 

“Okay, Hannah.” Avery set her two shopping bags down on the ground. “Seriously, what’s wrong? You’ve been out of it for a month, you didn’t buy much today, and you’re sticking up for those queers.”

“Ugh, stop asking me that. Nothing’s wrong,” she groaned, wanting to make a run for the ley line.

“Clearly something is. The Hannah I know would never stick up for two dykes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *7°C is like 44.6°F, that’s a little chilly ;))
> 
> To be continued...
> 
> Man, I’m sorry, that was a LOT. I know I said things were gonna get intense but I think I overdid it. Oh well! 
> 
> Sucy’s hiding something, Lotte wants the truth to come out, poor Akko is getting kicked back and forth, Amanda’s in a “honeymoon”-like phase, and Hannah’s totally gay for Amanda but she’s got some miiiiighty LGBT+ friendly friends *insert eye roll here*. 
> 
> I’m actually... not so proud of this chapter. I tried rewriting it but I got nowhere. Maybe it’s just because everyone being aggressive makes me sad rip  
> Ugh but this had to happen...  
> Everything is building though ;(( I still think I might have rushed it  
> Let me know what you thought? 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!


	11. Lies (Part II)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avery storms off and Barbara’s friendship with Hannah grows more distant. Hannah screws up on accident. Amanda and Akko return from their ruined date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! I arrived safely in my host-country and I’m now settling in! I found time to finish writing this yesterday (I couldn’t on the plane because I was too emotional and I couldn’t write without overthinking everything). 
> 
> Everything escalates from here!! Enjoy, my amazing readers!
> 
> Fun fact:  
> Don’t Touch Me was originally going to be called Found You! I drafted it as a two-shot fic about Akko desperately trying to find her soulmate. The story was basically about her trying to get Diana to touch her so that she can figure out if they’re soulmates or not. It was kind of funny but then I realized that I wanted to twist the story to make it more interesting. Then, I wanted to go deeper into character development. I ended up scrapping the idea and, as I’ve said before, releasing what was intended to be a one-shot special! 
> 
> Anyways, if you read that, now I’ll let you go read the new chapter!

“Clearly something is. The Hannah I know would never stick up for two dykes.”

  


“Excuse you?” Amanda had made her way over to the stone cat statue, appearing in front of the three girls with her arms crossed and a _very_ pissed off expression on her face. 

Her piercing green eyes jabbed holes into Avery and Barbara while her jaw clenched tight. Previously, her face had flushed bright red because of her date with Akko, now it was because she was absolutely livid.

“None of your business, butch,” Avery spat, swirling her fury from Hannah to Amanda. The two of them were locked in a deadly stare-off. Though, Amanda appeared to be winning considering the fact that she was at least a whole head taller than the small Canadian witch. 

“What’s your problem?” Akko frowned, standing up from the chair she was sitting in. It slid backwards, legs cutting into the concrete patio and creating an ear-grating noise, until it clanged against the metal back of the chair behind her. She picked up the small brown tabby kitten that was trying to claw its way up the leg of her jeans and approached the other girls. “You guys are making the cats anxious…”

“Nothing. You know what, Hannah? Why don’t you just go home with the pride parade?” Avery snarled, snatching up her shopping bags. “You seem like you’d be better friends with these lesbos than us,” she fumed as she stomped off in the direction of the ley line. 

A draft of wind blew by the four remaining girls, who couldn’t bring themselves to speak with the heavy tension in the air. Amanda was so worked up that she was inhaling and exhaling sharply through her nostrils. Akko was nervously petting the cafe kitten’s soft head. Normally she would have been a wild, angry ball of energy with lots to say to Avery, but the date with Amanda had worn her out emotionally. 

Finally, Barbara spoke in a hushed voice, “Hannah… you know she doesn’t mean that, right?”

Hannah was staring blankly down at the ground. If she looked up, she’d have to see Amanda and Akko together. If she looked at Barbara, she’d have to choke down the lump in her throat that formed when she realized how homophobic her best friend was. 

“She sounded pretty fuckin’ serious to me,” Amanda sneered. She snaked an arm protectively around Akko’s waist. Hannah was too focused on how her heart twisted at the sight to notice how Akko tensed up, clutching the kitten closer to her chest like it was life-support. 

“Please just shut up, O’Neill,” Barbara hissed in response, beginning to walk down the sidewalk. She looked over her shoulder at Hannah before saying, “I’m going to go back and calm her down. Don’t worry, I’ve got this… just maybe try not to piss her off again. When Avery’s mad… you know, it’s quite ugly.”

Don’t piss her off again. Hannah stared after Barbara, watching her long black hair sway back and forth as she hurried towards the key line. This was it. She really didn’t have anyone anymore. Her best friend had just taken Avery’s side. 

Diana was so distant, Hannah didn’t think that she could ever be real friends with her despite being her roommate. Barbara had already been, oddly enough, speaking with Lotte Yanson more and more frequently about books after school, leaving Hannah to herself. Now, she’d chosen to go comfort Avery. That stung a little. 

Then there was Amanda… Hannah hated seeing her with her soulmate. Normally, if you love someone, you’re supposed to be happy for them. If she was being completely honest, she despised seeing Amanda be affectionate towards Akko. Hannah hated how selfish her thoughts were.

 _I’m lonely_ , was something that she buried deep within her.

One day, maybe someone will stick around.

Hannah’s gaze shifted from Barbara to the kitten in Akko’s arms. Even it was giving her a rather unfriendly look. The way it’s eyes peered at her was nothing short of anxious and fearful. For once, Akko had been right; the cats really were affected by the mood of their conversation. 

“Glad they’re gone.” Amanda exhaled through her nose and rubbed her temples. After a few awkward moments of thick silence, she’d finally composed herself. Amanda looked at Hannah and smiled in a way that made her guts tangle up. “That sorta ruined our date,” she laughed. 

Hannah felt a sour feeling sweep over her. She was _still_ jealous of Akko and she hated it. _Get over yourself_ , she repeated for the millionth time in her head. It was all she could think of at the moment. 

“Hannah,” Amanda said, causing her to lift her head. “Thanks for… defending us, y’know? I didn’t think you were LGBT-friendly.”

Shit. What did that mean? Was her secret going to be exposed? The last thing she needed was for her friends to find out that she may or may not be bisexual—Hannah still wasn’t quite sure. With panic rising in her chest, she blurted out, “I didn’t do it for you. I did it because the news should be highlighting school events and Diana’s accomplishments, not some petty drama. As if I’d stick up for a pathetic failure of a witch.”

It took both Amanda and Akko some time to process what she’d just said. Akko quickly realized that the last bit was directed towards her. A small, nervous smile appeared on her face before she was laughing. 

“Right, of course!” exclaimed Akko, obviously trying to keep laughing in order to cover up hurt feelings. Even Hannah didn’t know why she included that unnecessary jab at Akko. Sure, she didn’t like her, but Hannah knew she really shouldn’t have gone there. Of course, it was too late to take it back. As she feared, Amanda’s cold mint-green eyes bore into her. 

“No, Akko. Stop laughing,” she said. Amanda squinted at Hannah and scowled with disapprovement all over her face. She lifted a hand and pointed right at the auburn-haired girl. “What’s your problem? She hasn’t done anything to you and all ya ever do is be a bitch.”

Unable to bring herself to speak, Hannah simply stood there. It felt like her heart was freezing inside and all her limbs felt numb. 

Amanda didn’t wait for a response. Instead, she grabbed Akko by the hand and began pulling her back towards the table they’d been sitting at. She fished her wallet out of her pocket, threw some money down and made her way towards the ley line. As they were walking, Akko quickly set the kitten down on the ground. 

The brown tabby stood in the middle of the outside eating area in confusion. Hannah let her eyes linger on it until it turned and moved out of sight. Right. She was alone.

A small rustling sound reminded her that she was still holding the shopping bag. Even though it was light enough for her to swing around with one hand, it felt heavier than two bowling balls. Through her watery eyes, she looked into the bag at the snacks. Hannah scanned over a package of Almond Joy*. _Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t_ , it read. What an accurate slogan.

There weren’t words to describe exactly how she was feeling. The closest one she could think of would have to be ‘rejected’. Though, how could she feel rejected if Amanda didn’t even know? Hannah squeezed her eyes shut and tried to avoid crying by counting. 

One. Two. Three.

Amanda surely hated her now. Hannah hated how thoughts always managed to break her concentration.

Four. Five. Six.

Avery definitely hated her guts and she was certain that Barbara wasn’t happy with her either. Hannah cringed at the thought of having no friends for the rest of her time at Luna Nova. 

Seven. Eight. Nine. 

She didn’t have anyone to talk to or confide in. It was funny because at the beginning of the year, she’d been feeling like she was on top of the world. 

Ten.

She wasn’t sure how to go about apologizing to Ak—

Hannah felt something warm and fluffy on her ankle. Her eyes flickered open and she glanced down to see the kitten that Akko had been holding earlier. It was purring and rubbing itself against her legs. It came back.

“You don’t hate me?” Was all Hannah could choke out before she dropped her bag. It fell to the ground and slapped against the pavement below. Now, her own composure was crumbling down. She let out a shaky sigh and cried into her hands. 

* * *

“Why didn’t you say anything to her?” Amanda asked, still angry from the encounter with Hannah, Barbara, and Avery. 

“Say anything…?” Akko mumbled, dragging her feet as she walked. “Like what?”

“Normally, you’d jump up and yell in her face about how you weren’t a failure. If Diana had said something, you would’ve, right?” Amanda was still holding onto Akko’s hand tightly. 

“But Diana would never call me a failure.” Akko frowned, eyebrows knitting together. Of course, Diana was practically perfect, but she’d never been one to pick on others. That would’nt be the Diana she knew. 

“Not to your face,” scoffed Amanda. “Even Cavendish has gotta have bad things to say about people.”

“But if she did, then she’d have a reason,” Akko replied, causing Amanda to stop walking. She turned around to look at her with one eyebrow raised. 

“Since when were you and Diana Cavendish friends? I thought you hated her because she hates Shiny Chariot.”

“I never said I hated her!” Akko retorted. “And we… we kind of became friends after talking a little more.”

“I’ve literally never seen you talk to her,” Amanda laughed, letting go of Akko’s hand to fold her arms. The skeptical look on her face was a little annoying. Did she really think that there was no way that she could be friends with Diana?

“We talked after school.” Technically, it wasn’t a lie. Amanda didn’t have to know that she’d originally been ‘secretly’ meeting Diana after curfew. No, that sounded like they were doing something bad. 

“Hm. That makes sense.” Amanda nodded, continuing to walk closer to the ley line. Thankfully, she didn’t try to hold Akko’s had again. That was super awkward and Akko swore her hand was drenched in sweat from how uncomfortable she was. 

Truthfully, her date with Amanda wasn’t all that horrible. The cat cafe was actually a really nice place to go to since the cats provided a distraction, as terrible as that sounded. It made it so she didn’t have to stress about looking Amanda in the eye and asking stupid questions like, ‘the weather’s nice, right?’ for two or more hours.

However, Akko just wasn’t feeling it today. All she wanted to do was go back to her room, jump into bed, and nest into her blanket and pillows. Either that, or she wanted to find Diana and ask her for tips on flying. Sucy had told her that the flying potion would take a while to brew, especially since Lotte’s spirits had to find the right ingredients. 

Speaking of Diana, Akko wondered if she liked cats. Akko liked kittens. Who didn’t like kittens? Maybe she should show Diana the cafe. 

“Akko.”

“Yes?!” She shouted, surprised to be snapped out of her thoughts. 

“Hop on, will ya?” Amanda patted the part of the broom directly behind her. Man. This was just as awkward as the flight into town. Akko mentally groaned. “Come on, what are you waiting for?”

“Hang on,” said Akko. She shrugged her backpack off her shoulders and unzipped it. After fumbling around for a little bit, she managed to find her lucky Shiny Chariot keychain, which had fallen to the bottom. She took it out, zipped up her backpack and put it back on, and then hopped on the broom. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around Amanda’s waist to hold on. “Ready.”

Amanda entered the ley line as Akko took a deep breath, brushing her thumb over the metal keychain. At the very least, the ride back wouldn’t feel as long as the ride there. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Almond Joy is a candy bar consisting of coconut and almond coated in chocolate! 
> 
> Wow... you made it through! This concluded Lies!  
> So? Now that the drama is over—just kidding, there’s more! It only gets... more interesting from here!!
> 
> I actually loved writing this chapter since I felt like I could relate to Hannah. Originally, I’d applied to study abroad because I was feeling like I was all alone and needed a change of scenery. So far, I’m holding up pretty well in my first week... I hope I’ll be okay! I’m trying my best! Do you think Akko was this terrified when she got off the plane...? Yeah, you’re probably right, she’s a fictional character so probably not lmfao
> 
> I’d love to hear your thoughts on this chapter ;)) By the way, people figured it out last chapter: Sucy’s motive behind the potion was related to Jomari, her crush who’s dating his soulmate. 
> 
> As always, thanks for your support!!


	12. Hurt and Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diana finally allows herself to open up to Akko. Amanda’s anger towards Hannah gets out of hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Sorry for the HUUGE delay! I know that the chapters are short and the waiting time is long ;((
> 
> I’ve settled into my host-country and this past month has been AMAZING! I absolutely love my host family and I get along very well with all of them. I love them so much!! They’ve really made adapting easier on me. 
> 
> So much easier that I’ve had some time to write owo
> 
> Hope you enjoy!! Thanks for all the support and kind words!

Akko melted into the chair across from Diana, who was quietly doing next week’s homework at their usual table in the library. Her red backpack, which was full of heavy textbooks, thumped as she dropped it onto the floor. She slumped over, resting her face in her palms and her elbows on the table.

Diana glanced up at Akko briefly before returning her attention to the work in front of her. For a few seconds, Akko admired the way the light fell on her hair, allowing it to blend in with bright, white sunlight which streamed through the windows. She looked like an absolute goddess. But, Akko wasn’t really surprised. After all, Diana was the closest thing she knew to perfect.

Akko pouted, unhappy that she was being ignored. She let out a soft sigh. No response. She let out a long sigh. No response from Diana. She let out an even bigger, heavier, deeper, louder sigh. Still nothing.

Now, she could be a respectable friend and allow Diana to work in peace. But, a real, true, caring friend would help their friend relax and _not_ worry about assignments due far in the future, right? Akko twisted her body so that her back was pressed into the edge of the table. She then leaned backwards and plopped her head down on top of Diana’s homework. 

The blonde dropped the pen she was writing with, surprised to see a pair of sparkling crimson eyes staring up at her. She stared momentarily at Akko’s face before letting out a sigh of her own. “What on earth are you doing?” Diana slowly reached a hand towards her face.

Akko wasn’t sure if she was going to brush the rest of her bangs out of her eyes or pinch her cheeks. All she knew was that suddenly registering her close proximity to Diana caused her heart to panic. Akko rolled on the table, away from her touch. However, she didn’t really think things through because she soon found herself falling out of the chair. “Ow!” she cried out.

“Are you okay?” Diana’s eyes widened with surprise. She was getting out of her seat to help her up when Akko slapped a hand on the table and shakily got to her feet.

“Yep! Sorry, I just hit my head a little. It’s okay though, I’m used to it!” Akko laughed, sheepishly rubbing the part of her skull that had met the ground. 

“Don’t say that. This is why I worry about you,” said Diana.

“You worry about me?” Akko’s eyebrows shot to the top of her forehead. 

“Of course I do. I’d say that you are my… friend,” Diana coughed.

“Oh!!” Akko yelled, causing Diana to shush her and remind her that they were still in a library. Once Akko had gotten ahold of her nerves, she quietly whispered, “I was just telling Amanda that we were friends but she didn’t believe me! We were talking on the way back to Luna Nova from… our… date.” She’d started off speaking quickly and enthusiastically only to slow down as she remembered why she’d been talking with Amanda in the first place.

“I see.”

“She kissed me, you know?”

“...”

“On the cheek,” Akko clarified. She sat back down in her chair and scanned Diana’s face. It was expressionless; Akko didn’t really know what kind of reaction she was expected to see. Deep down, maybe she was looking for some kind of disapproval from Diana. Some sign that she wasn’t the only one who felt like her and Amanda shouldn’t be soulmates, but there was none. Diana’s sharp, ocean-blue eyes stared back at her with hardly any emotion or warmth. “I felt super uncomfortable,” she murmured.

Diana was silent. Akko was about to try and change the subject when she spoke, “Have a little more patience. Time is everything.”

“That’s what you said last time and the time before that…” Akko replied in a sulky manner. She allowed her gaze to stray from Diana to her hands, which she firmly pressed into her own thighs.

“It’s the best option I can think of at the moment. Either that or you confront Amanda face-to-face and explain that you’re not interested in having a relationship with her,” Diana stated. 

“No way!” The Japanese witch exclaimed. 

Diana ignored her and continued, “It isn’t at all fair to Amanda that you’re dating her without actually liking her. In a way, you’re giving her false hope.”

“Ugh! I knoo _oo_ w,” Akko groaned, grasping at loose locks of her long, brown hair and yanking them downwards until they were pulled straight. Quietly she grumbled, “I wish soulmates didn’t exist…”

“I can’t exactly say that I disagree with you,” Diana said simply, picking her pen up and clicking it shut. She neatly set it down beside her notebook. 

“I just wanted to focus on magic… Meeting new people, learning how to fly, casting super cool spells…” Akko released her hair and let her arms fall to her sides. “I wanted to do all that stuff, not spend every second with Amanda. If I’m being totally honest… I kinda wish I’d never met my soulmate…” She cringed, face contorting in disgust. “That sounds so mean… I hate myself sometimes.”

“Don’t. Akko, the way you’re feeling isn’t right nor is it wrong. In my personal opinion, I believe that it is okay for you to be disinterested in soulmates. However, I will say that trying to avoid the problem and hiding your… disinterest from Amanda is wrong,” Diana responded almost immediately this time. She spoke with conviction and her eyes locked on Akko’s with complete seriousness. 

Akko nodded slowly, attempting to process everything. “Diana, why don’t you like soulmates?”

“Where did that come from?” The said girl’s expression relaxed and a single eyebrow rose ever so slightly. 

“I don’t know. I mean, you said that it was okay to be disinterested in soulmates and I’m just curious, I guess. We only ever talk about me and never about you. I get that some things are personal, but I wanna know why you think the way you do,” Akko explained in a hushed voice with anxiety leaking from it. She was absolutely terrified of scaring Diana off, but she really, really wanted to know more. “Please, Diana? Pretty please?”

A rather conflicted look crossed Diana’s face. Her lips parted as if she was going to say something, but then they closed like she’d decided against it. This action repeated itself several times before Diana took a deep breath and said, “Very well. However, this stays between you and I.”

“Got it, totally got it!” Akko perked up, nodding her head frantically.

“I mean it, Akko,” she whispered harshly.

“I mean it too, Diana.”

Diana scanned her up and down before squeezing her eyes shut and inhaling once more. She slowly let out her breath, shoulders steadily falling as she did. It took several moments for her to actually start speaking. In that time, Akko was dead silent, ready to attentively listen.

“As a child, people were constantly trying to… touch me. The Cavendish name is, as you know, linked back to one of the Nine Old Witches and has acquired a plethora of wealth over time,” she said slowly. “Since my soul stain is not in a visible place, they’d essentially… grope at my body.”

“That... that’s horrible…” Akko breathed, feeling her breath catch in her chest. The traditional approach to soulmates is that once you find yours, you are to marry them. She couldn’t believe it. There were actually people who hoped that they could find their soulmate and use that as an excuse to marry into money. 

“My mother fell ill and passed away when I was very young, but when she was alive, I was safe. Then, my Aunt Daryll took control of the Cavendishes because I wasn’t old enough. I’ve been working ever since then in preparation to lead and show that I am worthy enough of taking back the estate… Unfortunately, I caught the eye of wealthy suitors and since my family began suffering financially, my Aunt Daryll has been letting… things slide. She hoped, and still hopes, that I’ll find a wealthy soulmate.”

“You… you were all alone while... people molested you? W-what about the staff? Don’t you have fancy maids and butlers? They didn’t help you?” Akko gaped at her.

“There’s nothing they could do. Although, sometimes during parties, the chef would call me to taste a dish or the maids would tell me to come show them where things belong. Now, I’m old enough to fend for myself,” Diana answered, beginning to put her homework away. Akko noticed how her front teeth just barely sunk into her lower lip. Maybe this was too emotional and she was trying not to cry? Akko wanted to give her a hug, but something in her just wouldn’t budge for some reason. She hated how her insecurity popped up in the worst moments.

“Diana, I… I,” Akko didn’t know if there was anything she could say so she just said, “can I hug you?”

The other witch was quiet. Now that Akko thought about it, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to touch someone who’d been molested as a child by others. Still, she felt an urge to comfort Diana, but she didn’t have enough words to. Even if she did have the words, she wasn’t entirely sure if they were the right ones.

At last, Diana replied, “If that is what you wish.”

Akko lurched forward across the table, ready to embrace Diana. She really wanted Diana to be happ—

“Hey! Didn’t you two hear us? We’re closing up for the night!” shouted one of the library assistants. Akko froze and thrust herself away from Diana like she’d been caught red-handed stealing a cinnamon roll from the kitchen. She quickly scrambled to grab her backpack before glancing up at Diana.

A light pink dusted her cheeks and she appeared to be staring at her pen. Akko wasn’t sure if it was due to the fact that she’d just shared some extremely sensitive personal information or if Diana was just hot—it was usually warm in the library. Akko stood there and watched as she quickly and carefully packed up her work. In seconds, Diana was already striding past the brunette, making her way towards the exit. 

Akko dragged her feet on the carpet below. Screw the library assistants. She and Diana were having a moment. So much for that.

* * *

Hannah curled into fetal-position on her bed. All day, Amanda had avoided her. But then again, what else was new? It’s not like she and Amanda used to hang out all the time anyways. 

As Hannah recalled, working with Amanda on their linguistics project had been absolutely… terrible. Hannah had quietly pushed her bag of snacks across the table. Amanda stared at her phone—probably texting Akko—the entire time. When Hannah tried to speak, she would be glared at. 

“Do you… want anything to eat?” Hannah had once asked in a small, soft voice. 

“No.” Amanda had said sharply, not even bothering to look up at that time. 

Their project took over an hour to complete due to a lack of communication. At one point, they’d both translated the same paragraph. Neither Amanda nor Hannah had told each other which section they were doing. 

* * *

“We’re using my translation,” said Amanda.

“I read yours… it’s not completely accurate. There’s a part here that seems a little funny,” Hannah replied. 

“Funny? Like how you think Akko’s efforts are funny?” Amanda scoffed. “I think that it’s _funny_ that you think she’s a failure when you’re not much better.”

What? Where had that even come from? Hannah sat there, allowing the words to sink in. She pursed her lips together and decided not to respond. Her grip on her pen tightened and she crossed out one of the words on Amanda’s notebook. 

~~Anger~~. 

Above it, in small letters, she wrote ‘ _fear_ ’. 

“Can’t defend yourself? Good. Now you know how Akko must feel every time you insult her.” Amanda’s eyes tore through Hannah’s flesh. She just wanted to run and hide. The taller girl eyed her up and down before hissing through her teeth, “You seriously need to leave her alone. Your mean jokes aren’t funny. You’re just bein’ a bitch.”

 ~~Jealousy~~.

‘ _Heartache_ ,’ she wrote in all capital letters. Her pen was pressing hard enough to rip through the paper if she wasn’t careful. Hannah took a deep breath. When she was sure that her voice wouldn’t break, she replied. 

“Aside from Friday, I haven’t spoken to Akko in almost a month.” When the words left her mouth, she glanced upward to gauge Amanda’s reaction. _Here we go again_ , she thought. Hannah fought back tears that threatened to well in her eyes. Amanda really did hate her.

“Of course you haven’t. You never speak with Akko, you just harass her while she’s mindin’ her own damn business. Seriously, Hannah, at this rate, I’m not even sure that your soulmate will like you when they meet ya.”

 ~~Obsession~~.

‘ _Falling in love_.’ Hannah circled the words three times before roughly shoving the notebook back across the table to Amanda. 

“You clearly didn’t interpret the text right. The author wasn’t trying to convey negativity; there’s deeper meanings behind her actions. The story’s about a girl who can't express herself properly, not a girl who’s trying to sabotage her best friend’s marriage,” Hannah explained, biting the inside of her cheek between sentences in order to keep herself from crying in front of Amanda. Her hands moved as quickly as possible, shoving her folder and notebooks into her bag.

When everything was packed up and Hannah had zipped up the large pocket, she turned her back towards Amanda. “Since you obviously didn’t put proper consideration into the text you were translating and explaining, we’re going to use mine. I’ll submit it tomorrow morning along with the other work that we finished. Bye.” 

Amanda was left sitting at the table alone and Hannah hadn’t dared look back.

* * *

The auburn-haired girl groaned into her pillow. Today, Amanda had glared harshly at her as she turned in the assignment. No amount of magic could possibly fix this.

She’d really messed up.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You made it! That was a lot to take in, though probably less than other chapters. It sure went by quickly, huh?... yeah, not so much when I’m writing it haha. And to think, there’s people who write 5k+ word chapters!!
> 
> Awe jeez, Hamanda’s ship has been blown to pieces.... but Diakko’s ship is entering the harbor hmm.  
> Now we know a little bit about Diana and her background as does Akko. What do you think of that almost-hug, huh? ;))
> 
> I haven’t had a lot of references on my mind—I know that some of you enjoyed those. Should I try to work one in a chapter? Originally they were just in there because my mind goes a million places when I write. Add references to media/pop-culture or nah?
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! I’m trying to concentrate on my abroad journal and spending time with my host family, so the next chapter might not be released for a while. But, you shouldn’t have to wait more than a month or so, hopefully.
> 
> Have a great day!


	13. Peers and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah’s pushed into a corner and must make a decision. Akko’s attempts to get closer to Diana succeed while Amanda’s attempts to get closer to Akko fail.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back to another episode of Cringy-Gay-Teenage-Love-Triangle! Whose feelings will be hurt today, we’ll just have to find out!
> 
> I’m sorry that it took so long for this update to arrive! I’ve been doing a lot lately. Let’s just say my limits are really being pushed, but it’s for the better. I’m going to come back after my abroad year and be able to say I’m a new, better person than I was before.  
> (Unfortunately for you guys, you probably won’t see much change because writing and being a human being can actually be two totally different things)
> 
> Anyways, I really do hope that you enjoy this! If you’ve ever been stuck on whether or not to save a friendship, then maybe you can relate to this chapter. 
> 
> Happy reading!!

“Han, can we talk?” Barbara’s voice caught the said girl’s attention. In front of her, Barbara was gathering her books together. The lecture had ended and they were moving to whatever class they had next. In this case, Hannah’s was linguistics with Amanda; she was dreading it. 

“I…” Hannah glanced up at her best friend, ready to say ‘yes’. She couldn’t remember the last time that she’d sat down and really talked with someone. Perhaps now would be a good chance to confess everything to Barbara. Hannah was so exhausted that she didn’t even care about terrible reaction she’d probably get. In the last few days, she’d concluded that if she agonized this much over Amanda hating her, then she, without a doubt, has a crush on her.

Hannah had somewhat come to terms with the fact that she was most likely bisexual. And that… might actually be okay. If Barbara knew, then maybe all the random, harsh homophobic comments and jokes would end. At the very least, she and Avery could make them when Hannah isn’t around.

“Barb, let’s go. We’re going to be late for math.” Avery stepped carefully down the steps, passing by the rows of lecture hall desks with her head held high. She stopped directly at the bottom of the stairs, beside Barbara and in front of Hannah. Despite Avery’s smaller stature, she was looking down on her. Hannah felt like some dirty street rat in the ballroom of a palace. 

“One second,” Barbara told her, causing hope to rise in Hannah’s chest. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I know that I haven’t really been around the dorms lately.”

Hannah found herself suddenly fascinated with the way her books bobbed up and down. They moved ever so slightly in her arms as she breathed. It was almost like they were alive. If they were alive, would they come to her rescue? 

She knew exactly why Barbara had been leaving early and coming back late. Had the incident on Friday not occurred, Hannah would’ve assumed that she was meeting up with a guy from Appleton. Either that, or Barbara would’ve probably been with Lotte Yanson—Hannah was still unclear on how the two girls had become so close. But given that Avery had been more and more attached to Barbara’s side, it was obvious that the two have been hanging out without her. They meet up before school and after school. Hannah has no idea what they do or what they talk about, though she’s certain that she doesn’t want to know.

“I’m fine,” the auburn-haired girl replied quietly. 

“You don’t look fine.” Barbara frowned. 

“Yeah,” Avery nodded, “girl, you look like a train-wreck.”

Hannah averted her eyes as the two began laughing. Normally, a comment like that from Avery wouldn’t be so bad, but Hannah didn’t want to hear about what she already knew. “I guess,” she murmured, too tired to force a laugh or crack a smile.

Barbara must have noticed that she wasn’t laughing because she stopped and said, “Come on Han, lighten up a little. It was just a joke.”

“Exactly. No need to get butthurt over every little thing,” Avery scoffed. She squinted at Hannah with venom that Barbara didn’t catch. “If anything, my phone should be crying over being smacked by a queer comrade.”

Hannah’s heart sunk as Barbara failed to choke back a laugh. Her best friend slapped a hand on Avery’s back and lurched forward as she shook with laughter. After wiping a tear from her eye, she grabbed Avery’s shoulder. “Please, there’s no way that Hannah’s queer. She just didn’t think Wangari should waste valuable time and energy on an article about a couple gay girls, right?”

“That…” Hannah’s mind went blank. Certainly, that was what she’d told Amanda, but hearing it from Barbara made her realize just how terrible it sounded. She’d messed up more than she already thought she had. A rush of cold swept through her and it felt like her heart had stopped; there was no way she could come out to Barbara now. 

“Wait, really?” Avery’s expression softened for a moment. Hannah looked at her in confusion and slight fear. What kind of reaction was what? She glanced around the room, searching for a way out of the conversation.

“I… I…” Deny it. _Deny it_ , her brain commanded. Unfortunately, Hannah couldn’t bring herself to do so. Technically, Barbara wasn’t wrong—she _did_ tell Amanda and Akko that the newspaper should be highlighting Diana, not them. But, she was torn on what to say. If she agreed, then it would make telling the truth even more difficult. If she disagreed, then it would look suspicious.

“Yeah,” Barbara nodded, “right, Han?”

Hannah’s mind was empty. Her thought process had halted completely. She just stared into Avery’s eyes with pursed lips, not knowing what the right thing to say is.

There was a brief moment of silence between the three before Avery exclaimed, “Hannah, why didn’t you just say so! You little bitch, you had me scared!”

“Wh-what?” Her eyes widened a little.

“I totally thought you were friends with those losers, or even worse, some gross dyke!” Avery gave a laugh and punched Hannah’s shoulder in a playful manner. “Seriously!”

Hannah winced at the use of the slur, but Barbara and Avery must have assumed it was because of the punch. The two laughed at her and Hannah, not wanting to ruin their mood, forced a weak chuckle. Her arms tightened around her books.

“No, but really,” the Canadian wiped a tear from her eye, “you should’ve just come out and said it from the start.”

 _Come out_. Obviously, she wasn’t talking about sexuality, but it certainly felt like it. Hannah didn’t get to think about it for long because Avery surprised her by slinging an arm around her. 

“This girl is straight, great, and ready to date! She’s single and ready to mingle!” she exclaimed. Hannah was in total shock at the announcement. There were still other students lingering around the room and they had definitely heard Avery. She felt their eyes and heard their giggles.

“Good for you, Hannah!” Someone called out.

“Go get em’!” Another one of their classmates laughed. “I heard Appleton boys like girls who make the first move!”

Hannah didn’t care about the meaningless comments from peers whom she rarely spoke to. She shrugged them off no problem, smiling meekly about all the support she’d get if she was chasing after a boy. However, what really got her was Amanda’s voice.

“Single, yeah. Straight, yeah. Ready to date, maybe. But great? Hmm..” Amanda snickered to Jasminka as they walked out of the room. Hannah’s heart dropped when she caught the almost inaudible remark. By now, she was used to it. Negative comments from Amanda weren’t anything new. However, that didn’t change the fact that they still hurt.

“God, Amanda’s such a bitch,” said Avery, who had also heard.

“Right?” Barbara scoffed.

“Don’t listen to her, girl, we got you,” she said.

“Totally.” Barbara nodded in agreement.

Avery’s entire demeanor towards Hannah had changed. She wasn’t quite sure how to respond, so she just stayed still when the small Canadian girl flicked her forehead affectionately. Avery looked at the clock at the front of the room before turning back to Hannah. “Alright, we should probably get going soon. Hannah, come to the movies with us this weekend.” Her voice was full of a friendliness that was unsettling.

“Why the weekend? Let’s just go on the half-day tomorrow,” Barbara hummed while picking dirt out of her nails. 

“Half-day?” Avery quirked an eyebrow. “Since when was there a half-day?”

“Since the faculty has some big meeting,” she explained with a small shrug. 

“Alright, then let’s go tomorrow. You’ll come, Hannah, right?” 

Hannah’s eyes flickered back and forth between the other two girls. She wasn’t quite sure how she felt about this. The last thing she wanted to do was throw away her opportunity to join them. There was no way she wanted to feel as lonely as she’d felt last Friday. Yet, did she really want to spend time with the same people who were spewing cruel, homophobic slurs? The answer seemed so obvious, but Hannah was trying to weigh her losses. 

If she said yes, then she’d remain closeted for fear that her friends would hate her sexual identity. But, at least they’d include her and she wouldn’t be alone anymore, right? If she said no, then she’d probably end up drifting further and further away from Barbara. Either that, or she’d set Avery off again and Barbara would be unhappy with her. However, at least she wouldn’t have to hide anymore. Perhaps she’d even have a shot at redeeming herself with Amanda. 

Though when Hannah really thought about it, trying to get close to Amanda again would seem pathetic and desperate. Additionally, her father would be shamed if he found out that his only daughter was at least fifty-percent lesbian. So, Hannah opened her mouth and practically whispered, “...Sure.”

“Great. Let’s go, Barb. See you later, Hannah!”

Hannah was left standing there, completely confused. Avery suddenly likes her again after hearing something that makes Hannah seem straight and like a homophobe? Where was the logic in that? Had Avery always been such a simpleton? Hannah could hardly believe that in seconds, she’d gone from being ostracized by her friends to invited to the movies with them. 

Still shocked, she forced herself to leave the classroom, which was now completely deserted, and head to linguistics. She wanted to walk as slowly as possible so that she could think and not have to see Amanda’s face so soon, but if she did that, then she’d be late. Hannah heaved and heavy sigh and hurried down the hallway. 

* * *

The chairs beside and in front of Diana’s in the library were reserved for Akko and only Akko. Or at least, that’s what Akko thought. Sometimes, she liked sitting right beside Diana and other times, she wanted to be right in front so that she could admire how long Diana’s eye lashes were while she was reading or writing something. Akko had been caught staring on a number of different occasions, but she had yet to be scolded for it. 

“There’s a half-day tomorrow. School’s gonna be closed,” Akko sighed. 

“That doesn’t make you happy?” Diana murmured, not taking her eyes off of the school newspaper on the table in front of her. 

“No, because Amanda’s probably gonna use that as an excuse to ask me out on another date,” Akko whined with a pout. Diana glanced up at her and then back down.

“Why don’t you make plans with someone else then?” she suggested. With a quick hand-movement, the blonde flicked to the next page.

“Ohhh! That’s a good idea!” Akko exclaimed, causing Diana to hush her softly. A big, fat grin plastered across her face. 

_Ding! Ding!_ ... _Ding!_

Akko panicked, hearing the loud chime come from her skirt. She thrust a hand into her pocket and muted her phone, refusing to break eye contact with Diana.

“Perhaps you should check that,” Diana mused, raising an eyebrow.

“I will later,” Akko told her. There was a slight pause before she tentatively asked, “So… are you free tomorrow?”

“Akko.” The newspaper made a brief crinkling noise as Diana lowered it.

“Yeah?”

“I meant with Lotte, Sucy, or one of your other friends.”

“You’re one of my other friends,” Akko argued. She watched Diana shake her head with a sigh and return to reading. No way. Did she seriously plan on avoiding the question? Without thinking, she snatched the newspaper out of Diana’s hands and tossed it over her shoulder. 

“Akko!” Diana frowned and looked up at her.

“So, wanna hang out tomorrow?” the Japanese witch asked, smirking at her. “Please? Please, Diana? It’ll be fun, I swear!”

“I personally think that you would enjoy your free time more if you spent it with one of your closer friends,” sighed Diana. Her chair slid back before she got up and out of her seat. Akko watched her walk around the table to pick the newspaper up. She decided to wait until Diana sat back down to respond. 

Akko waited quietly until Diana had settled herself. She watched her begin to fix the papers that were now out of order. After several seconds of simply watching Diana’s hands work, Akko replied, “You _are_ one of my closer friends. I mean we’re not that close, I guess, but I want us to be closer. Wait! No—I don’t. I don’t want to be closer to you… Wait, shit! That’s not what I meant, I wanna be with you but I… and I just—”

“Akko,” the other girl cut off her rambling, “if you really want to, then I suppose we could meet for a short while tomorrow. I’m just not sure that I’d be very… fun to ‘hang out’ with.”

_Ding!_

Akko’s phone went off again before she could say anything. With an exasperated groan, she fished the device out of the pocket of her skirt. It was thrown carelessly onto the table with a loud slap, causing Diana to flinch. 

Her phone landed screen-side up, causing it to flicker on and show the lock screen. The smiling faces of Akko and her roommate hid behind four text notifications, which were all from Amanda, of course.

On instinct, Diana looked away. Akko’s eyes scanned the room for what had caught her attention. It took a moment for her to realize that Diana’s respect and courtesy for other people's privacy was in act.

“It’s okay, you can look if you wanna.” Akko shrugged and tapped the screen with her index finger just as it was beginning to dim. She looked at Diana, confused as to why the blonde was still averting her eyes. “Really, it’s okay. She probably just sent me memes or somethin’. No nudes,” she reassured with a laugh.

Diana was never a nosy or extremely curious person, Akko knew that. But the best way to get close to someone is showing them that you’re comfortable around them and not hiding anything, right? Then again, even if she did try to hide something from Diana, Akko doubted that she’d ever get away with it. 

It took a moment before the tiniest bit of curiosity within Diana got the best of her. Those crystal-clear, ocean blue eyes slowly drifted from the library shelves to Akko’s smartphone resting in the middle of the table. Akko found herself smiling as she tapped the dim screen bright again and read the message previews.

_Amanda O’Neill: hey_

_Amanda O’Neill: wanna go get lunch and see a movie tomorrow?_

_Amanda O’Neill: it’s a half-day yknow? Fun fun fun!_

_Amanda O’Neill: Akko?_

Akko slammed the power button, effectively shutting her phone all the way off. She locked eyes with a startled Diana.

.

..

…

“I asked you first.”

“Actually, I believe that the messages came before you—”

“I didn’t respond or agree to anything. I didn’t even read it until after.”

“Akko.”

“I asked you first,” the brunette repeated monotonously before chucking her phone over her shoulder, not caring to see how far it had gone or where it had even landed.

“Akko!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well... that’s all for now! I’ll be honest, I haven’t even drafted the next chapter yet, but you can bet that half-day will be spicy hot... with drama. Maybe. I’m debating whether or not I want to give these characters a shred of happiness—
> 
> No references to pop culture/media this chapter! I really gotta think of some good ones because I think it’s fun when people who are into the same stuff come out of the shadows to laugh about it.
> 
> I wanna say that there’s more to Barbara and Avery’s characters than just catalysts and antagonists. Unfortunately, there’s sooo much we have to get through before the concentration shifts onto them. Next chapter you’ll see more human sides of them. In fact, they’ve always subtly been normal teenage girls, it’s just that a single mean comment is all it takes for us to dislike them and forget that. Weird, right? Almost like how it works in real life—
> 
> Hope you liked the chapter! I’ll try not to keep you guys waiting for long! Bis bald!


	14. Watermelon Kiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Avery and Barbara persuade Hannah into going to see a movie with them. Hannah learns a bit about how Avery feels from Barbara. Akko persuades Diana into going to see a movie with her. The two kiss... kind of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey there! Welcome back/Welcome to slow-update paradise!
> 
> I’m your host, Koumagda, and I’m here today to bring you another chapter of stupid character development (and Diakko fluff)! 
> 
> I bring you, the first Don’t Touch Me chapter of 2020!!! Yay!!
> 
> I’ve got nothing much to say... aside from thanks for your continuous patience and support. These comments... man, my abroad year is tough. It’s so, SO exhausting and I’m having some difficulties lately. Everything just sort of escalated and exploded in my face... so thank you for your support last year, I hope you’ll stick with me this year! Okay... so I take that back, I did have a lot to say..
> 
> Whoops—now go read that chapter ;))) hope you enjoy!

There were at least a hundred other things that Hannah would rather be doing. Anything would be better than the current situation. In fact, Hannah would almost prefer swimming with sharks on her period.

But here she was, standing behind Barbara and Avery as they excitedly picked out candy at the concession stand. A large bucket of popcorn, two Twix bars, two Snickers bars, two packages of Skittles, a package of M&Ms… the pile continued to grow each second. Hannah snorted. So much for the diets that the two planned on the leyline trip into town. 

Her eyes fell on the Haribo gummy bears. Each vibrantly colored package hung neatly on a hook beside the display. Amanda loved those. Hannah was tempted to buy some, but as she was reaching for a bag, the cash register drawer shut with a loud _clack_! 

“Alright! Let’s go, girls,” Avery cheered. Hannah watched as she and Barbara began to gather the snacks into their arms. “Take the popcorn, Hannah.”

Without a word, she picked up the large bucket and followed them down a hallway and into a theatre. _La La Land._ Hannah had no interest in dramas, but supposedly the movie was a comedy as well. In any case, the last thing she wanted to do was pick a fight with Avery.

The three girls took their seats in one of the very front rows. Hannah and Barbara were on opposite sides of Avery, which was disappointing because Hannah would’ve liked to sit next to her best friend. But, she chose not to say anything for fear that Avery would get upset and exclude her again. 

The advertisements were actually very entertaining so while her two friends whispered back and forth to each other, Hannah made a mental note of movies she wanted to see. It didn’t really bother her that she’d have to go see movies like _Love, Simon_ alone. In fact, she’d much rather watch those without the company of Barbara and Avery.

“I have to go powder my nose,” Avery suddenly announced in a whisper. Who still says that? Hannah bit back a smart remark and watched her get up and exit the theater. This left her and Barbara alone. There was a moment of silence between them.

Hannah wanted desperately to say something, but she couldn’t find the right words. She opted for watching the movie theater PSA about respecting neighbors and silencing all electronic devices.

“She likes you, you know,” said Barbara.

“What?” Hannah’s head snapped towards her best friend.

“Avery,” she clarified, “she really loves being your friend. She missed hanging out with you—I missed you.”

“It didn’t exactly seem that way,” Hannah sighed. If anything, Hannah would’ve never guessed. Avery acted like she was one error away from social suicide.

“She’s just frustrated about Akko and Amanda… and her phone.” Barbara looked at her with these sullen eyes. It kind of irked Hannah off.

“Okay,” Hannah frowned, “I don’t see why their relationship is such a big deal to you two. You two don’t even _know_ them, Barb. At least _I_ was Amanda’s project partner long enough to have an opinion of her.” 

“Look, Hannah… They’re _lesbians_.” Barbara brushed her bangs back with a hand. 

“So?” Hannah scoffed, “Why does it matter? They’re not bothering anyone and it’s a waste of energy to give them the time of day. That’s what they want.” She picked her words very carefully so as not to come off as too suspicious. The last thing she needed was to come out to Barbara right when she was finally hanging out with them again. 

“Avery has issues, Hannah.”

“Like _what_?” She rolled her eyes. Everyone has issues—Avery wouldn’t be the first. 

“I don’t think it would be right for me to tell you.”

“I don’t think that it’s right to choose Avery over your best friend.”

“Han, can we not do this here? I thought we were over this,” Barbara groaned. “It’s kind of childish.”

“No, Barb. Cut the shit!” Hannah raised her voice for a moment. Upon realizing how loud she was, she lowered it to a whisper. “I think you owe me a good explanation as to why Avery’s being such a bitch to me if she likes me so much.”

“...You can’t tell her I told you,” Barbara murmured after a few seconds.

“I won’t,” Hannah snorted, “just tell me what’s going on with her. I want to know _now_.”

“Okay, okay, okay…” Barbara glanced around, checking to make sure that nobody was listening in. Either that, or she was checking to see if Avery was still gone. Hannah was so fed up with everything. She was tired. She just wanted to understand. 

Even if the reasons weren’t valid, which they probably weren’t, anything was better than being left in the dark. She needed to know what she didn’t know and impatience was consuming her. “Well?”

Barbara leaned over Avery’s vacant seat and cupped her hand around her mouth. She didn’t say anything, leading Hannah to believe that her best friend was tormenting her. But just as she was about to get mad and bark at Barbara, a hushed voice came.

“Last year, Avery’s parents divorced. Her mother cheated on her father with another woman.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah,” Barbara muttered, eyes cast towards the floor.

“Wh—“

“I’m back!” Avery cut Hannah off before she could even process any thoughts. She slipped in between the two and sat down. “What were you guys talking about?”

“Oh, you know! How Ryan Gosling actually practiced piano for four whole months to play Sebastian in the movie!” Barbara squealed. Her lie was flawless and seemingly effortless.

“Really? That’s serious dedication,” Avery laughed. Hannah could only stare at her. Her mind was completely blank—she didn’t know what to think of this new knowledge.

The lights dimmed and the movie began. It was interesting in the beginning, seeing as they opened up with some sort of spontaneous singing in the middle of traffic. But it wasn’t long until Hannah was completely disinterested and unimpressed.

A cafe worker aspiring to be an actress and some drop-dead gorgeous man meet and fall in love. Wouldn’t it be nice if romance were that simple? Hannah certainly thought so.

* * *

“Hey, have you ever seen this movie before?”

“No, I believe it was just released,” Diana replied from a couple of meters away. She thought for a moment as she walked. “Last week, perhaps?”

“Oh, really? I didn’t know!” Akko bounced up and down outside the theater entrance to _La La Land_. She had actually gotten Diana Cavendish to come hang out with her after school. Not only that, but they were going to see a movie together!

“Please calm down before you spill the popcorn,” the blonde sighed. She pinched the bridge of her nose with her free hand and carried the snacks and drinks—that Akko had purchased—in her arms. 

“It’s got a lid on, but whatever you say.” Akko shifted the giant bucket—which was her idea, obviously—in her arms. She tapped her foot on the ground and resisted the urge to spin around in the hallway as she waited for Diana to catch up. Upon paying at the snack bar, Akko had swiped up the popcorn and made a run for the theater. “Come on! Hurry up, Diana!”

“Was it really necessary to purchase this much?” Diana inquired, coming to a stop in front of the other witch. 

“Of course! It’s my first time going to the movies with a friend! I haven’t gotten the chance to since school started!” Akko exclaimed, jogging in place. The popcorn stirred within its container as she bobbed up and down. “Now let’s go!” 

She lead Diana into the dark theater with a skip to her step. After peering at the tickets, she quickly found their seats in the back row. Akko had originally wanted to sit up front, but since Diana dislikes having sound blasted in her ears, she made sure to choose two of the farthest seats back.

They sat down and got settled in. Upon request, Diana placed all the candy in Akko’s lap. Meanwhile, Akko set the bucket of popcorn down on the floor in front of their seats and put the drinks in the cup holders. She’d bought a bottle of water for Diana and a coke for herself. 

“I didn’t think they’d sell American candy here! Isn’t it just the best? We don’t have this kinda stuff in Japan and I hadn’t seen any in the regular stores,” Akko babbled, opening up boxes of Sour Patch Kids and Reese’s Pieces. 

“This particular cinema is supposed to be ‘American-styled’,” Diana explained, “Normally you’d have to go to a special store to find half of these items. I believe that there’s a small shop in town.”

“Really?? That’s awesome!” Akko shoved a handful of Reese’s Pieces into her mouth. “Ahh! This is so cool! I’ve had the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but not these! They’re like M&Ms!”

“Akko, you need to lower your voice,” she murmured, pressing a finger to her lips for emphasis. “You’re being a tad bit disruptive.”

“Sorry…” Akko mumbled with a mouthful of candy. She swallowed and took a swig of Coca Cola to clear her throat. Then, Akko picked through the pile of candy resting on her lap until she found a small lollipop labeled Chupa Chups. “Never tried this before..”

“Perhaps you shouldn’t eat so much sugar all at once,” Diana reached to try and grab Akko’s hand, but the brunette had saw it coming. She was too fast to catch. She leaned as far as she could in her seat away from Diana, unwrapped the lollipop, and stuck it in her mouth. “Akko…” She let out a sigh. 

“What are you? My mom?” Akko rolled her eyes. She rolled the sucker around in her mouth a few times. It tasted like watermelon. “Just relax! We’re gonna have so much fun today.”

“...If you say so.” Once more, Diana sighed. She leaned back in her seat and awkwardly tried to get comfortable.

“Want to try something?” Akko smirked, patting the pile of boxed and bagged candy in her lap.

“I’ll pass.”

“Awe, Diana! Please? Have some fun! Movies are always more fun with snacks,” Akko whined, twisting the lollipop around in her mouth with the stick. “Mmm,” she hummed, “See? Delicious.” 

“I’m not a fan of processed sugar,” Diana replied calmly.

“I think you’re scared.” Akko’s eyes narrowed.

“Excuse me?” Diana frowned. She looked a tad bit offended. Good.

“I said,” she removed the sucker with a wet _pop_ , “I think you’re scared.” 

After repeating herself, Akko stuck it back in her mouth. She looked at Diana worth a smug expression on her face. 

“Scared of what?” The blonde watched her intently.

“Scared of sugar,” Akko laughed.

“How does that make any sens—”

“The great Diana Cavendish is afraid of candy! Afraid of sugar, no, afraid of fun!” Akko joked loudly, causing a few people around them to turn and look. “You heard me, right?!”

Diana flushed a bright red. “Akko!” she hissed through gritted teeth. 

“Look at me! My name’s Diana and I’m afraid that sugar will give me cavities and ruin my perfect teeth,” Akko continued, ignoring her. “My perfect aristocrat body will be ruined if even a single grain of sugar lands on my tongue.”

Akko couldn’t stop the laughter bubbling in her chest. She tried her best to hold it back, but failed. More people turned to stare at her as she gut-laughed at her own comically terrible impression of Diana. 

As she did, Diana was repeatedly scolding her and trying to quiet her down but to no avail. It took at least five whole minutes for Akko to regain control of herself and her volume. She let out one last “ha” and wiped a tear from her eye. Akko turned her head towards the blonde witch when she came up with another joke. “Hey, Dia—”

Diana plucked the lollipop from Akko’s mouth and popped into her own. She then stared straight ahead with those cool-blue eyes. Akko gaped at her, jaw hanging like it was going to touch the ground.

“D-Diana?!”

“The movie is beginning, Akko. Please respect our neighbors and quiet down,” she said simply. 

“B-but…!!” The brunette was speechless. Her entire face felt like it was on fire and she was certain that it was a hot-pink color. Lucky for Akko, the lights dimmed. But, she still hoped that Diana couldn’t see in the dark.

“Hush,” Diana shushed her, continuing to stare straight ahead. The thin, white plastic stick protruded from her plump, soft-looking lips. She could see the way Diana’s jaw moved in the darkness; she could see Diana taste the lollipop.

Akko had to force herself to look back at the movie. How could such a simple sight be more interesting than a massive silver screen*?

Music erupted in the speakers and just as Akko’s attention was focusing back on the movie, Diana leaned close to her face. Nervously, her red orbs shifted to the side, locking with magnificent blue ones. Akko’s breath hitched and something felt like it was caught in her chest when Diana whispered.

“It tastes divine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *silver screen - I bet most of you didn’t know that the giant ass projector screen you see at the movie theaters is called a silver screen. I just put a note here so people wouldn’t think I was talking about a literally silver screen of some sort haha 
> 
> Chupa Chups, believe it or not, are an actual brand of suckers! I got inspiration after seeing them for sale here at a shop. Had no idea they were some sort of Spanish originating brand. 
> 
> I got... homesick. I missed American candy in this chapter (though some things like Twix and M&Ms can be bought where I’m studying). So, I let myself be carried away. Hope you enjoyed the Diakko! 
> 
> And you’re probably thinking: Avery’s reason is bullshit. You’re right, it is bullshit—but was there ever a logical reason for homophobia? Trust me, Hannah knows it’s total BS and we’ll have to see how she handles this potentially useless knowledge.
> 
> Unimportant authors note:  
> I’m sorry for the delay in posting chapters and replying to comments. I’ve been going through a really, really rough patch. Teachers, my host parents, my parents, and my organization have pushed me into a corner. For the last couple of months, I’ve been crying either in school or every time I get home. I’m not in a good spot right now. It’s a lot. But I do have people supporting me and I have you guys! So thanks for those of you who have been following me on my journey so far and welcome and sorry for being such a mess to those who just joined the party!! 
> 
> But... yeah! Thanks for reading! Hopefully I’ll see you all again!


	15. Everybody Can Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hannah gets up to get a refill for Avery. On the way, she bumps into Amanda.  
> A drowsy Akko proposes plans to Diana.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for waiting!
> 
> The support given to me when I was at my all time low was unbelievable! I knew that the readers cared, but I had no idea that their care extended into my personal life! For that, there’s no way I can express enough gratitude for the patience, kindness, and interest in this fic that you’ve all shown me!
> 
> When I logged on to reply to comments approximately 100 days after updating, I realized that my hit count surpassed 10k! Wow! Thanks for reading my little short story!!
> 
> Anyways, my exchange year has come to an end. For as many... bad things... that happened, I met a HELL lot of awesome people. I fell in love, had my heart broken, made new friends, found a new love, and tried things I’ve always wanted to try! 
> 
> Now that there’s... uhh.. quarantine... there’s more time for writing! YAY!! I’m also looking into potential. Diakko... merch.. once I solidify a cleaner, less sketch-y art style haha. 
> 
> So! That’s enough about me, let’s get on with the chapter!

Fingers scraped at the bottom of the popcorn bucket, clawing at nothing but emptiness. Hannah’s eyes flickered over to Avery. She somehow heard the soft noises through the music blaring through the speakers in the theater. Suddenly. Hannah was seeing dark, almost black, purple. Shit. Avery caught her looking. Immediately, Hannah felt herself break out in a cold-sweat. While Barbara continued to watch the movie, the two other girls entered a silent staredown. 

“Hannah,” Avery whispered at last in a sickly sugary voice. She wore an equally sweet smile on her face, which was definitely new to Hannah, who had only ever seen her smirk or scowl. “Would you mind going to get us a refill?” she continued.

Hannah swore she saw the girl bat her eyelashes at her. It was super tempting to gag, but she thankfully didn’t. That was the last thing that she should do if she wanted to stay on Avery’s good side. She fought back the urge to make a snappy comment and instead answered, “Alright.”

Since the movie was doing everything but entertaining Hannah, she got up without hesitation. Holding the empty bucket, she crouched slightly as not to obscure anyone’s view and crept through the dark to the exit. When she pushed open the doors, the dim lighting engulfed her. 

Cute cardboard cutouts of animated characters lined the hallways and stared at the auburn-haired girl as she walked by. The walls were painted a dull red, but lit up by the colorful movie posters scattered amongst them. At the moment, the halls were empty despite the buzzing concession area nearby. Hannah rounded a corner and strolled ahead towards the concession stand counter, popcorn bucket in hand. 

“Hannah?” A very familiar voice took her by surprise. The said girl froze in place, eyes flickering to her left. Exiting one of many screens in the multiplex was the last person that Hannah wanted to see in that very moment. Her palms began to sweat when the voice spoke again, “It is you.”

No. Hannah was not going to stand still while Amanda took shots at her—not again. Sucking a breath of air into her lungs, she found the courage to ignore Amanda and continue walking.

“Hannah, wait,” said the voice of her unrequited love, somehow powerful enough to stop Hannah in her tracks. 

“What do you want, Amanda?” the British witch sighed, “Haven’t you said everything that you wanted to say to me? Or would you like me to take a seat so that you can give me a piece of your mind again?”

“Whoa, whoa… Alright, I guess I kind of deserved that,” Amanda admitted. She rubbed the back of her neck, and averted her eyes to the ground. There was an awkward silence for a moment. But before Hannah could move, the eyes that she both adored and feared were staring back at her. “I had some time to think, y’know. Actually, more like someone talked to me and told me that I actually sort of went a little too far… at the cafe.”

“...Who?” Hannah inquired softly. As far as she knew, Barbara, Avery, and Diana hadn’t been there. She also didn’t remember telling anyone about the incident. Could there have been someone from their school present during the incident? It was unlikely, but certainly not impossible. 

“Akko. Despite how mean you are to her, she texted me to lay off you yesterday night. Apparently she thought the whole thing at the cafe and how I’ve been acting around you during classes was wrong.” Before Hannah could get a word in, Amanda continued, “But that’s not what I wanna talk to you about.”

“Then…?”

“Look, Hannah. I wanna say sorry for being a huge dick to you lately. I really don’t have enough words to express it, so I hope that you can believe me when I say that I’m really sorry. I just wanna go back to the way things were when… y’know, we were friends,” Amanda said slowly. She stepped a little further closer, causing Hannah to tense up impossibly more than she already was. 

Those heart-wrenchingly beautiful green eyes were Hannah’s weakness. The smoldering looks they gave Akko would always be something that she was jealous of. They brought her both comfort and great heartbreak. Those eyes sent shivers through her body—shivers of excitement and fear. Somehow, a single look was enough to make Hannah’s every line of defence crumble.

But, no. Still, Hannah couldn’t bring herself to accept the apology so easily. Though it seemed genuine, after the hell Amanda put her through, she wasn’t sure what or who to believe anymore. 

“So… are we okay now?” Amanda asked her, offering a small smile to go with her inquiry.

Actually, maybe it would be best to simply go along with the situation. Hannah didn’t necessarily have to accept the apology, but if she let things go and simply acted like she did, then at least Amanda wouldn’t be out to get her anymore. Thus, Hannah swallowed her pride and the urge to reject Amanda, and instead replied, “Yes. If that’s all, then I have to go get a refill.” She held the empty popcorn bucket up for Amanda to see before moving to finally walk away.

“Hey, wait.” Yet again, Hannah’s mission to get Avery a refill was disrupted. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she stopped, turned, and glared a little at Amanda, who said, “I was gonna grab a little something too. Can I walk with you?”

“Sure,” Hannah sighed. Even if she had said no, Amanda would’ve had to go the same way to the concession area. It would’ve been awkward and rude to shoot her down. So, she found herself walking with the other witch.

It wasn’t long until they entered the main lobby. Hannah stepped into the line, which was pretty short, in front of Amanda. They stood there in silence. Specifically, Hannah chose to stare straight-forward as to minimize any further interactions. The last thing she needed was to slip up with Amanda or become some emotional wreck again. 

Though there were many cash registers, only two were open. A small handful of employees stood behind the counter. One mom and two kids were at the front of the line. Behind them, an elderly woman and what appeared to be her four grandchildren. After them, a man with a thick mustache, and standing in front of Hannah, a young boy and girl. They looked like they were in middle school and, based on their flushed faces and bashful behaviors, probably out on their first date. 

“Cute, huh?” Amanda chuckled from behind her.

“What?”

“These two,” Amanda said quietly, gesturing to the kids: one with messy blonde hair and freckles on his face, and the other with long brown hair tied into a loose braid. The boy had his hands shoved deep in his pockets, and his foot tapped anxiously against the floor as he shyly asked if his date had seen the movie they were going to. The girl blurted out that she hadn’t a bit too loudly, causing the man in front of them to briefly turn around and stare. When he turned back around, the couple erupted into laughter that they failed to stifle. 

“Yeah, I guess that’s pretty cute,” Hannah admitted with a slight, soft smile on her face. 

“So, what movie are you seeing?” Amanda asked after a few seconds. She seemed less curious and more interested in further breaking the ice.

“ _La La Land_ ,” she answered with a blank voice.

“Ew, gross,” Amanda made a face, “Who’s with ya?” 

“Barbara and Avery…” Hannah mumbled quietly, knowing that Amanda was going to hate that.

“Ew, grosser.” The other girl frowned at her. She crossed her arms and snorted, “Why them? I didn’t even think they were your friends anymore after they straight up left without you.”

“Can we not talk about that right now? They’re… different when you really get to know them,” Hannah sighed, “or at least, Barbara is. I’m still not 100% sure what’s going on with Avery.” 

“Alright, alright. I just don’t think you should hang with such toxic people—it’s not good for you.”

“Coming from you, that means _nothing_ ,” hissed Hannah through grit teeth.

“Whoa—okay. I said I was ‘sorry’. I didn’t mean to make you mad. Here, I’ll change the subject. Do you like the movie?” Amanda asked with a guilty expression before continuing, I’m seeing _The Notebook_ with Wangari, and honestly, I sorta hate it,” she said, now rolling her eyes and shrugging.

“Really? I hate _La La Land_ ,” Hannah hummed, taking a step forward in the line. Amanda followed her. 

“Yeah? How would you feel about ditching this place with me?” suggested Amanda.

“With you?”

“With me.”

“You know…” Hannah averted her eyes. She failed to restrain the red gathering in her cheeks. It was a tempting offer.

“What?” Amanda quirked an eyebrow, moving to stand next to her.

“I can’t. Barbara and Avery invited me, so it would be rude to ditch them. Also, we _just_ started talking again… maybe some other time?” Hannah sighed before stepping up to the counter and ordering a refill. She handed the empty bucket to the employee, who turned around and went to scoop popcorn from the large machine behind them. 

“Oh—yeah, sure. Maybe… maybe do you wanna come eat lunch at our table sometime? I know you usually sit with your team, but our table’s always open if you just wanna… catch up,” the American said. When Hannah received her refill, she stepped to the side, allowing Amanda to approach the counter. 

“I’ll think… about it,” Hannah replied in a hushed voice, clutching the popcorn to her chest. The longer she talked with Amanda, the more her defences fell to pieces. 

“Cool,” Amanda nodded, “Hmm… what should I get?” She eyed the assortment of snacks and candy in front of her. 

As Amanda looked, Hannah waited patiently. After a few minutes, her eyes fell on the Haribo gummy bears. Her fingertips brushed against one of the packages, but she was hesitant to speak up. For some reason, she didn’t have the courage to talk to Amanda anymore. 

“Man, I don’t really see anything I want right now,” she sighed.

Hannah stayed silent and checked the time. It had been awhile since she left the theater. Hopefully, Avery was too preoccupied with watching the movie to notice. 

“Ughhh,” Amanda groaned, unable to make up her mind. 

“...Here,” Hannah said at last. She swiped up the gummy bears and tossed them onto the counter in front of her.

“Oh!” A big grin found its way into Amanda’s face. “These are my favorite!” 

_I know_ , she thought. After the candy was bought, they began walking back together. It was silent between them, and neither had any clue what to say to one another. 

“Well… hopefully see you soon.” Amanda gave a small, surprisingly shy smile before turning and heading through the doors into the theater where her movie was being shown. For several minutes, Hannah stood in the hallway, which was empty aside from two cinema employees. She watched them sweep and dump fallen popcorn and candy wrappers into a large trash bin. One caught her eye and smiled, causing Hannah to quickly glance away. 

With a soft sigh, she began heading down the hall towards her theater’s entrance. The door clicked softly when she pushed it open. Hannah crept once more through the darkness, up a couple stairs, and to the aisle where she and her friends were seated. 

“You’re back!” Barbara whispered excitedly while Hannah moved to her spot. In response, she flashed her best friend a brief smile that she hoped could be seen in the shadows. 

She let herself fall backwards, making sure to keep the bucket of popcorn in her hands steady. Every muscle in the auburn-haired girl’s body relaxed the moment her body hit the reclining chair. Though the loud theater speakers made her ears hurt, she felt relaxed. Now that she was away from Amanda, there was time to decompress and think. Hannah had almost completely melted into the seat when Avery roughly grabbed her upper arm. Nearly jumping out of her skin, Hannah turned to look at the other girl, a frightened expression apparent on her face.

“What took you so long?” she hissed as quietly as possible, causing Hannah’s eyebrow to twitch, and a frown to twist her mouth downwards. Wordlessly, she handed the bucket to Avery, who snatched it away in the blink of an eye. Several minutes passed by, and Hannah wondered why she even bothered to try and be Avery’s friend. Surely, Barbara would come to her senses and at the very least, spend time with Hannah separate from Avery. She could feel something burning within her. Now was the time to give Avery a piece of her mind. Now was her chance to call her out and then leave the theater; it would be difficult for anyone to respond in a way that wouldn’t make a scene.

Hannah inhaled sharply before turning her head. Eyes determined, and heart pounding hard enough to break free from her chest, she opened her mouth. “You know—”

“I was worried,” grumbled Avery. Hannah’s jaw immediately snapped shut with an audible _click_. She was about to inquire about the statement when the Canadian witch continued, “I thought that maybe someone had kidnapped you—why didn’t you answer any of our texts? We were just about to get up and look for you.”

“What? Why would you do that?” Hannah gaped at her, unable to believe what she was hearing. 

“Because we’re _friends_ ,” Avery scoffed as if it were obvious all along.

Avery really considered her a friend? Feeling conflicted, Hannah forced a smile and willed herself to turn her attention back to the silver screen. She found herself zoning out rather than watching the film. If everyone would just say exactly how they felt, then maybe it would be easier to understand them. Well, she was sick of waiting around for someone to stick up for her, to fight for her—to be on her side. 

It was then that Hannah decided to fight for herself more often.

* * *

Two more figures sat in the dark theater. One sat upwards with their back straighter than an arrow while the other’s head bobbed up and down slightly as they tried to battle the oncoming sleep. In minutes, the figure took the loss and succumbed to her exhaustion, head almost lulling on the shoulder of the other. 

“Akko…” Diana took notice and whispered softly. The said girl’s head slipped further and further down the side of the chair towards Diana’s shoulder; she was almost fast asleep. “Akko!” she whispered a bit louder, about to grab and shake her gently. 

“Uwahhh?!” Akko jolted awake with a confused shout. This prompted several other people in the theater to turn around in their seats and shush her. Diana attempted to hide her face with her hand until they looked back at the movie. “Whats s’rong…?” Akko slurred in her fatigue.

Diana sighed deeply and inched herself slightly further away in order to give Akko some room to stretch. Noticing immediately, Akko thrust her arms out as far as they could go. She rolled her shoulders and kicked out her legs while listening to Diana speak, “I understand that this movie is… boring, but don’t you think that we should stay awake for it at the very least?”

Akko groaned, and Diana couldn’t tell if it was because of boredom or her stretching. “I know, I know. I’m just bored. I thought this movie was supposed to be cool… but it kinda sorta really sucks,” she whined. 

Diana couldn’t disagree, the theatrics of _La La Land_ , just weren’t her type of film to watch. “Well, what do you suggest?” Diana murmured. 

“Let’s get outta here.”

“What?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awee, you’re at the end already... of the chapter, don’t worry. More is on the way! 
> 
> IMPORTANT** this is still a diakko fic <3 this chapter was almost completely about Hannah, Amanda, and Avery. I know that this is seeming more like a Hamanda fic, but that’s simply because we’re heading towards the end of the first major part of the story... do I dare call it an act? A part? Just know that this is mostly to get us through the beginning of the plot.  
> NEXT CHAPTER will be ENTIRELY Diakko <3 and then the chapter after that... well, I don’t want to spoil it too much. But let’s just say that you’ll see Sucy and Lotte again. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Since I’ve got less to do in quarantine, you won’t have to wait months for responses <3 I hope you’re all staying clean and safe! WASH YOUR HANDS!

**Author's Note:**

> *Quote by Lysander in A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream by Shakespeare
> 
> Also yes, I totally did shamelessly rip Diana’s dialogue right from the TV anime.
> 
> Comment if you’d like! I love seeing thoughts! 
> 
> Thanks for reading! 
> 
> btw chapters 6 + 7 of BoaF are ready to go but I’m still waiting on my beta-reader/editor!


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